


Escaping This Ivy Nightmare

by dorkiestduo



Series: The Maze Runner Re-write [1]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: F/M, Follows series plot, Mentions of attempted suicide, Pre-Series, fluffy af, fun times in the glade, its a nice teresa, teresa isnt actually in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-25
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-03 07:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 27
Words: 62,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5282033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkiestduo/pseuds/dorkiestduo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sunlight burned. That's the first thing she thought when the metal bin finally opened its top to let her out. The next was where the hell was she, and how exactly did she get in this place to begin with? She could hear voices above her, but the light hurt too much for her to focus in on anything, and she just ended up backing up into one of the corners.<br/>“Hey, it’s another girl!” A thick British accent called out, and it took a minute to realize that someone had jumped down into the bin with her.<br/>“Who are you? How’d I get here?” The girl answered back, stopping at two questions so there was time to answer them.<br/>“Names Newt. Do you remember yours? Your name, I mean.”<br/>“Yeah... I’m Audrey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey lovelies! We're really excited to share this with you, it's the first book we've ever finished! We'll make this quick, since you probably won't read it anyway! This is mostly book-verse, but there are some movie-verse elements, and obvious non-canon elements. Also, Teresa isn't technically in this book. A girl named Casey takes her place, and she's not as.... bat-shit crazy? You'll like her, don't worry. Obviously all the material in this belongs to James Dashner, we don't own anything (Except our OCs). Anyway, enjoy! Let us know what you think <3  
> -Alex and Katie

The sunlight burned. That's the first thing she thought when the metal bin finally opened its top to let her out. The next was where the hell was she, and how exactly did she get in this place to begin with? She could hear voices above her, but the light hurt too much for her to focus in on anything, and she just ended up backing up into one of the corners.  
“Hey, it’s another girl!” A thick british accent called out, and it took a minute to realize that someone had jumped down into the bin with her.  
“Who are you? How’d I get here?” The girl answered back, stopping at two questions so there was time to answer them.  
“Names Newt. Do you remember yours? Your name, I mean.”  
“Yeah... I’m Audrey. Why wouldn’t I remember my own name?”  
“Can you remember anything else?” Newt asked, stepping towards her and holding out a hand.  
“Ye-- no. Why is that? How’d I get here?”  
“We can answer more questions once we get you out of the box, c’mon.” He offered his hand again and waited for her to take it. “Nothing to be scared of anymore. The glade is safe.”  
“The what now?” Audrey asked, her eyes finally adjusting to the light as she takes his hand.  
“The Glade. It’s what we call our home.” He smiled before helping her out of the box, up to where everyone seemed to have gathered for the boxes arrival.  
“I am so confused.” Audrey mumbled, looking around at the group of teenager staring at her. The group seemed to be composed of about seventy five percent boys, and none of them looked familiar. Audrey’s heart started to pound in her chest. What happened? Where was she? Who was she?  
“Hey Greenie.”  
“Another girl, finally!”  
“I call dibs!”  
“Enough.” A deep voice echoed to Audrey’s left, silencing the whole group. “She’s scared enough as it is, she don’t need you slintheads making her feel any more uncomfortable.” Audrey turned to see a broad, dark-skinned boy, around seventeen or eighteen, with kind eyes, but a strong grimace on his face.  
“Sorry Alby.”  
“Sorry Greenie.”  
“Sorry.”  
“Okay wait,” Audrey started, taking in her surroundings a little more. “Who the hell are you? What the hell is a Greenie, and why does pretty boy here have an accent and the rest of you don’t?”  
“That’s a new one..” Newt chuckled, looking over at Alby. “We’ll answer all your questions, let's just go with Alby to the Homestead and talk there.”  
“Homestead?” Audrey asked, before shaking her head and just following behind the boy everyone else seemed to listen to.  
“I’m Alby, I kinda run things here. Pretty boy there is Newt, and second in command.” Alby started to explain on the walk, and Audrey tried to pay attention as they walked into a small building with a ton of mattresses. “And you're a Greenie. It’s what we call newbies.”  
“Okay... And where are we? At first I though since.. Newt had an accent we must be in Europe somewhere..”  
“No, well maybe.”  
“You don't know where we are? How is that possible?”  
“It’s easier if you don't ask too many questions. This is what we call the Glade, its home.”  
“Yeah Accent there mentioned that. Why is it home?”  
“This is where we live, sleep, eat… everything. We don't leave unless we’re runners, alright?”  
“What?”  
“Look, once you have a tour of the place and see what we do here everything will start to make a lot more sense. For now just hang back and stay out of the way while we finish up our day.” Alby sighed, as Newt chuckled.  
“Alby hasn’t taken done explaining everything in a while, so you’ll have to excuse his rambling.”  
“Shuck it, at least she can understand half the words I say.” Alby huffs, before patting Audrey on the back. “You’ll figure it all out Greenie, it just might take a bit.” And then he left the room, leaving just Newt and Audrey.  
“What the hell?” Audrey mumbled, looking around a bit before focusing on Newt. “What am I supposed to do with that?”  
“We’re having a bonfire tonight… actually we have them most nights. So why don't we just go back out and try to get you use to seeing the maze and glade in all its glory.”  
“Sorry, Maze?”  
“Bloody hell, I said too much.” Newt grumbled, before trying to take off outside.  
“What the hell do you mean Maze?” Audrey followed behind him, finally noticing the sky high walls surrounding them. “What is this place?”  
Newt chose to ignore her questions, and instead began to walk towards one of the huge stone walls surrounding the “Glade.” Audrey hadn't taken notice of the giant doorway that stood in the middle of the wall, but that was exactly where Newt was headed.  
“I thought Alby said we couldn’t leave the maze. Unless we were... we were.... what did we have to be again?” Audrey asked, struggling to keep up with Newt’s quick pace.  
“Runners.” Newt answered shortly, his brow furrowing as he made his way towards the doorway.  
“What are those?” Audrey asked, surprised by the speed Newt moved at, despite the limp he move with. “What’s wrong with your leg? Why are you walking so fast?”  
“Audrey, please. Just- I know this is hard, and you’re confused out of your bloody mind, but I need the questions to stop, for just ten minutes.” They reached the door, and Audrey blushed furiously.  
“Sorry.” She whispered, bowing her head and taking a few steps back.  
“Look, I’m sor-” Newt began, but was quickly cut off by the call of another boy running towards them from the box.  
“No sign of ‘em yet?” The boy asked, his eyebrows furrowed almost as deeply as Newts. Audrey looked past the boy’s shoulder to see Alby jogging over to the group. She suddenly felt as if she were intruding on some sort of private matter.  
“No, they’ve really been pushing it lately. Nick’s been insisting they spend as much time as possible in there. I’m going to kill the shuck-face, if the maze doesn’t get him first, that is.” Newt muttered, rubbing his hand over his face. “This is Gally, by the way Audrey.”  
“Oh, hi.” Audrey squeaked, almost forgetting they were aware of her presence, and wasn’t just eavesdropping.  
“Yeah, hey.” Gally huffed, looking at her for a fraction of a second before fixing his gaze back at the open part of the wall. “There! I can see Minho and Thao.”  
“Thank shucking god.” Newt sighed in relief, and started to move closer to the door. Audrey looked around for somewhere else to go, but ending up following behind him instead. “You Shuck-faces are really bloody pushing it. There's buggin seconds to spare.” He yells at a group of three who run in from the other side of the wall.  
“Calm down, we made it didn't we?”  
“This time.” Gally huffed, crossing his arms and shaking his head. “What happens when one day you don't, huh?”  
“Shuck it Gally, we always make it.” The girl of the group responded, but the conversation stopped there when the open part of the wall started to make a loud crunching and grinding sound making Audrey gasp quietly and take a step back.  
“I know you said stop with the questions, but uhm, what the hell?” Audrey asked, turning to look at Newt.  
“It’s just the walls closing for the night, nothing to worry about.” He called over the sound of the walls banging closed, locking everyone inside the Glade.  
“Aw man, is she the new greenie? We missed it again?”  
“I told you we should have come back sooner.” The new faces all started to banter with each other, making Audrey feel very out of place.  
“What’s your name Greenie?” The girl asked, a curious twinkle in her eye. She leaned against the taller Asian boy she had run out beside.  
“Audrey.” She responded, glancing between the two, and then back at the other boy who had run out behind them.  
“I’m Thao.” She stuck out her hand for Audrey to shake. Audrey took her hand and smiled, this girl seemed nice. Audrey decided she liked Thao. “This guy,” Thao motioned to the muscular boy she was leaning against. “Is Minho, don’t talk to him though, he’s a slinthead. And this kid,” She pointed over her shoulder at the other boy, who was significantly scrawnier than Minho. “is Nick. He’s nice.”  
“Hey.” Audrey smiled and nodded at the both of them. “Nice to meet you.”  
“Guys, party is starting soon. Let's go!” Gally grinned, and Nick and him ran off towards what Audrey assumed was the kitchen.  
“How you doing with everything so far?” Minho asked her, drawing her attention back towards the small group she was standing with.  
“Not great. Hopefully not too awful either. Accent here really doesn't answer too many questions, and uhm I think his name was Alby? He told me he would answer my questions but then just took off... “ She rambled.  
“Newt, love. Stop calling me Accent.” Newt shook his head, grinning a little. “And I think it's about time we take you to your party.”  
“Oh no. That’s okay, uhm I’m good here. There's a lot going on over there…So here is probably a better place for me to-” She started before getting cut off by Alby himself, who had finally reached the group.  
“You guys ready to show Greenie how to have a good time?” He asked in his deep voice, his mouth almost turning to a smile.  
“You bet we are.” Minho cheered, throwing one arm over Audrey’s shoulder, and one over Thao’s.  
“It’s fun, don’t worry about it.” Thao assured her, as they made their way towards the group of Gladers who were now forming around a giant fire.  
“Are you sure it’s safe to have a fire that big? I mean, everything here is made of wood.” Audrey pointed out, not liking how close the flames were getting to the tree above.  
“No.”  
“Obviously not.”  
“Of course not.” They answered at the same time, all laughing. Minho broke into a run, pulling the two girls with him. “Come on, Gramps,” He called over his shoulder to Newt, who was limping quickly behind them. “last one there has to muck out all the Pee Pots!”  
Newt broke out into a sprint, despite his limp, and Audrey was once again surprised at how quickly the boy could move. Minho released the girls’ hands, and took off after Newt, Thao following close behind. When Audrey, Gally, and Alby finally arrived at the bonfire, the other three were laying on the ground, eyes closed, heads back, laughing their butts off.  
“Remind me how I used to do that all day, every day?” Newt gasped, moving his leg painfully. He threw his hands over his head, squeezing his eyes tighter, and taking in another sharp breath. The bottom of his shirt pulled up with his arms, exposing his lower stomach. Audrey’s breath hitched, he was fit.  
“You’re out of shape, shank, need to work out more.” Minho laughed, sitting up on his elbows. “Hey Audrey, don’t you think Newt’s out of shape? Not very fit, eh?” He smirked, glancing from Audrey, to Newt’s exposed stomach, and back to Audrey.  
“I think he’s in good shape, actually.” She managed, tearing her eyes away from Newt. Instead she decided to focus on the other events going on around her.  
“Aww, hear that Newt? Looks like someone thinks your fit after all.” Gally teased, before reaching over for a bottle someone had left nearby.  
“Slim it, the both of ya.” Newt huffed, snatching the bottle away from Gally and instead passing it to Alby.  
“Here Greenie, try this.” Alby smiled, holding the bottle out for Audrey now.  
“What is it?”  
“Just try a sip first, it won’t hurt you. Promise.” Alby insisted as Audrey took the bottle from him and inspected it. Then she took a small sip before coughing and shoving the bottle back at Alby.  
“What the hell is that? It tastes awful.” She mumbled, wiping at her mouth to try and get rid of the taste.  
“Gally made it. Not too sure what he puts in it though.” Alby laughed, taking a sip himself. “Ya get used to it after awhile.”  
“Yeah, I’ll pass. Thanks though.” Audrey shook her head and took a seat across from where Minho, Thao and Newt were laying down. “So, when do I finally get to know more about this place? How’d we all get here? And why is it I can’t remember anything but my name?” She started, meaning to only ask the one question, but the others just slipped out.  
“I thought we were done with questions for today...” Alby sighed, shaking his head before watching two gladers on the other side of the fire start to goof off. “”Hey!” He got up and started to make his way over, Gally following behind him.  
“Okay, but seriously? The more you don't answer my questions the more I have.” Audrey sighed, looking over at the other three for answers.  
“We don’t have many answers. We came up the same way as you, it’s not like there was anyone here to explain it all to us.” Thao replied, walking over to the fire, where there was a barrel of bottles. She grabbed three before glancing back at Audrey. “You sure you don’t want one?”  
“No, I don’t want one, that’s gross. How long have you guys been here?” Audrey asked, directing the question towards Minho, trying to make it a conversation rather than a slew of inquiries.  
“Newt, Alby and I have been here since day one, almost two years ago.” Minho explained, patting Newt on his good leg. “Thao’s been here ten months now. We get a new one every month, ya see.”  
“A new what?” Audrey asked, wondering how the boys had survived that long, without anything to do.  
“A new greenbean, like you. In a month, we’ll get a new one. A month after that, another new one.” Newt explained, finally sitting up, and scooting backwards so his back was against a nearby log. He patted the space next to him. “Might as well get comfy greenie, ya aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.”  
She sighed and sat down next to him. He was right, she had no idea how she was going to get out of this place, and every idea she had, they had probably already tried. “How many different jobs are there?”  
“About ten.” Minho explained, resting his head on Thao’s lap, who had scooted back to sit against the log as well. “Runners are the best by far.”  
“Yeah, if ya want to die!” Newt laughed, taking a swig from the bottle Thao had brought him.  
“I don’t think I want to be a runner.” Audrey whispered.  
“Don’t worry, you’ll probably end up being a slicer.” Minho explained with a laugh. Audrey had no idea what a slicer was, but it didn’t sound good.  
“My money’s on chef.” Newt guessed, throwing his arm over Audrey’s shoulders.  
“No, she’ll be a med-jack.” Thao argued, taking a long swig from her bottle.  
“Wait, whats a slicer?” Audrey asked, almost scared to know the answer.  
“You’ll see tomorrow on the tour. You’ll get introduced to all the Keepers, and they’ll tell ya about the jobs. Whichever one your best at is where ya stay.” Newt told her, nudging her a little with a smile.  
“You never actually answer my questions, you realize that right?” Audrey huffed, wiggling out from under his arm. “You aren’t very good at this.”  
“Excuse me?” Newt laughed, glancing over to see Minho and Thao’s reactions before looking back at Audrey.  
“So far none of you are. I mean, okay sure you guys came out of that metal box hell too, but you’ve been up here for how long again? Don’t you think by now you should have worked out a system of how to deal with people like me, and gotten better at explaining this whole situation? Just shrugging off the questions and mumbling about tomorrow isn’t helping anyone.” Audrey argued, looking expectantly at the other three. “So, what is a slicer?”  
“They take care of the livestock, and cut em up when it’s time to eat. Hope you aren’t a vegetarian, sweetheart.” Thao answered, sitting up slightly. “As for the box, we’ve told you all we know. It brings a newbie up once a month, and a supplies shipment up once a week. Won’t go back down till it’s completely empty.”  
“I want to go home.” Audrey said defiantly, as if they would somehow listen to her, and take her back to...to wherever.  
“Oh yeah greenie? Ya remember home? Why don’t ya tell us all about it.” Minho shot back at her, rolling his eyes.  
That shut Audrey up real fast. The group sat in silence for a few minutes before Newt cleared his throat. “You must be bloody starving.” He said, looking straight at Audrey.  
Until then, she hadn’t realised how hungry she actually was, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten. She couldn’t remember anything, actually. “Yeah, I am.” She agreed.  
“I’ll go grab you something.” Newt muttered, and used the log to help push himself up. He limped off towards where Alby and Gally had disappeared.  
“What happened to his leg?” She asked the other two.  
“That’s his story. And he doesn’t like talking about it too much. I wouldn’t ask if I were ya.”  
“Right... “ Audrey nodded, before letting out a sigh. “So, uh, what is it that Runners do? Besides the obvious.” She asked, switching topics rather quickly.  
“We run through the Maze everyday and try to get information about the wall movements.”  
“So the walls move?”  
“Everyday. And the doors open every morning at sunrise, and shut at nightfall.”  
“Why were Newt, Gally and Alby so worried about you guys earlier? What happens if you don't make it back in? And what was with Newt’s comment about likely dying?” Audrey asked, trying her best to pace the questions and not overwhelm the others or herself.  
“The Maze isn’t safe okay? People who don’t make it back in before the walls close are gone. That’s why only Runners are allowed out.”  
“Why isn’t it safe?” Audrey asked, scared of what the answer was going to be. “How can a Maze be dangerous? Because of the walls moving?”  
“I wish the biggest problem out there was the walls moving.” Minho grunted, shaking his head. “Grievers are the issue, Greenie.”  
“Grievers?”  
“Slim it Minho, you’ll give her nightmares and then none of us will get any sleep.” Newt started from behind Audrey, plate of food in his hand. “It’s best we leave some issues for tomorrow anyways, or Ably won't be able to show off.”  
“Oh c’mon, she’ll hear them soon anyways. Isn’t it best she knows before?” Thao argued, leaning over to snatch a carrot off of Audrey's plate before Newt handed it to her.  
“Just tell me, you already started to. Plus if I’m going to hear whatever it is soon, I’d definitely prefer to know about it beforehand.”  
“Right, well, it’s kind of hard to explain what they look like,” Thao began, pushing Minho off her lap so she could crawl over to where Audrey was sitting. “They’re part machine, part alive I guess. You probably won’t see one, so it doesn’t really matter what they look like. Basically, they are vicious, and have this stinger thing that makes you crazy, and then you die.”  
“They shriek. Sound like someone’s being murdered. ‘ts why we call em Grievers.” Newt added, taking his spot beside her again.  
“You’ll hear em tonight. And tomorrow night, and every other night. They screech all the time, it’s awful.”  
“So they what, they try to sting you out there?” Audrey asked, a gruesome image of what the creatures could possibly look like, forming in her mind.  
“Well, they try to kill ya, but if you get stung, they aren’t too upset.” Minho explained, showing off a couple long scars across his forearm. “They’re awful, but we think they’re there for a reason, so we gotta go out and try to figure out how to escape everyday.”  
“Has anyone ever survived a sting?” Audrey asked. The others fell silent, looking between each other.  
“Maybe we’ll wait for that explanation when the time comes.” Newt whispered, getting to his feet. “Let’s find you a place to kip.”  
“Bedtime already? You just bought me dinner!” Audrey shook her head. “I’ve barely ate anything, no way am I sleeping yet.”  
“If we don't find a place now, all the spots will be taken.” Newt sighed, but still sat back down with the others.  
“Then I’ll just kick you out of your spot.” Audrey shrugged, before going back to focusing on eating whatever it is Newt brought her for dinner.  
“We have rules you know. And stealing beds is one of them.”  
“No, actually I don't know the rules. Because no one will tell me much with you around.”  
“The rules are simple. Rule one; everyone does their part, no one is allowed to slack off. Rule two; never hurt another glader or kick them out of their beds, it's important we trust each other. and the last rule is to never leave the glade, unless you're a runner.” Newt explained, listing the three rules off on his fingers.  
“I highly doubt you have a rule about stealing beds if it's so difficult to get a spot most the time.” Audrey rolled her eyes and looked over at Minho and Thao. “Is there a rule about beds, or is Newt just whiny about his sleeping arrangements?”  
“He just wants to make sure he has a spot next to ya. And then he’ll sleep shirtless, which he never does. Maybe he’ll even take off his-” A hand slapped over Minho’s mouth, cutting him off.  
“God, why do you have to be so vulgar?” Thao asked, then screamed and pulled her hand back. “Don’t lick me, I don’t want your spit all over me. You’re disgusting.”  
“I am not.”  
“You are disgusting,” Newt commented, crossing his arms. “For the record, I was not planning on sleeping next to Audrey, unless she asked me to. And, I sleep with my shirt off every night slinthead, and so do you.”  
“Well, I sleep with my shirt on, because I’m decent, so feel free to sleep next to me.” Thao laughed, getting to her feet. “C’mon let’s go find a spot. Boys?”  
The boys glared at her, and then each other, before rising to their feet, and making their way towards a shack that sat in the corner of the maze, not too far from where they were. “Honestly,if it makes you more comfortable, I can sleep with my shirt on. If you wanted to sleep by me- that is. You don’t have to. I mean, we kind of just sleep wherever, but most people just try to sleep by their friends. I expect we’re your friends, since you’ve only been-”  
“Shuck. Newt. That’s not how ya get a girl.” Minho said with a bark of laughter. Himself and Thao started to laugh so hard, that they could barely support themselves.  
“It’s fine.” Audrey told Newt, when he turned bright red and started to say something. “I’d rather sleep beside you than those two... whatever you call them... anyways.”  
“Slintheads, shuck-faces, gross?” Newt laughed, staring at his two friends.  
“So what’s the deal with romance here anyways. Anyone together? Any juicey breakup stories? Wait, what happens if you wanna, y’know, get it on, as the kids say? Do you have like, proper equipment?”  
“Proper equipment? Ya mean condoms?” Newt laughed, his smile lighting up his whole face.  
“Yeah. So, let me in on all the gossip.”  
“What makes you think I have any gossip?”  
“Alby said you were second in command, which means you probably had to deal with complications that people had whenever they were together. Plus, you were just hanging out with those two. What’s their whole deal?”  
“Minho and Thao? Nothing.” Newt shrugged, walking around the Homestead to try and find some beds for everyone.  
“Nothing? Oh c’mon, they were cuddling like half an hour ago.”  
“Their good friends, and they run together in the maze. They’re close.”  
“That’s bull. They obviously like each other.”  
“And how would ya know that? You’ve spent an hour with them.”  
“Because i'm not oblivious, like you obviously are. You’ve spent ten months with the two of them!”  
“Yeah, and I can tell you that you dunno what you're talking about because of it.” Newt laughed, shaking his head. “If Minho liked someone, I would be the first to know.”  
“Boys are idiots…” Audrey sighed, shaking her head and patting down on a bed she found. It was in the corner of the room, so not as many people could really get close to her yet and there was enough room for Newt, Minho and Thao all if they wanted. “How bout here?”  
“Good that.” Newt smiled, moving to sit on the one next to her.  
“Okay, first thing tomorrow I want to know what half the things you say mean. And then I’ll probably need a cheat sheet if you all expect me to start actually using the words on a daily basis.” Audrey laughed, sitting on her own bed.  
“You’ll pick it up pretty quick after a few days, nothing to worry about.”  
“Newt? Minho smells like sweat, make him shower.” Thao complained, shoving her face into a pillow on the bed between Minho and Audrey. “Like he smells like Gally’s feet. It’s gross.”  
“Minho go shower.” Newt said nonchalantly, leaning back on his bed and chucking a pillow under his hip.  
“No.”  
“Now.”  
Audrey heard a shuffling sound from Minho’s bed, and watched as he stormed out of the room. “You probably smell just as bad” Newt muttered, trying to adjust himself on the bed.  
“Excuse me, but I guess I’ll go shower with Minho.” Thao shot back, getting to her feet and following Minho outside.  
“Good job Newt.” Audrey laughed, fluffing her pillow out a bit before laying down facing him.  
“They’ll get over it when they smell better.” Newt shrugs.  
“Says the one who is covered in dirt and something else that smells awful.”  
“Hey!” Newt protested “I don’t smell half as bad as they did.”  
“If you say so... “ Audrey rolled her eyes and flipped over to her other side. A few seconds later she heard what she thought was Newt moving to get up, but the next thing she knew, a dirt covered shirt was covering her face. “What.. Ew, Newt!”  
“See, it's not so bad.”  
“You don't just.. take this back, that’s gross.” She mumbled, chucking it back at him. “I can’t believe you just did that.”  
“What? It was proof I didn’t smell like Klunk.” Newt laughed, stuffing the shirt under his pillow.  
“You didn’t have to throw your gross, sweaty, dirt covered shirt at me to prove that.” Audrey shook her head and flipped back to face him. “We could’ve done without that bit.”  
“But it was fun, and got you to keep talking to me instead of falling asleep.”  
“I thought the point of coming in here was to sleep?” Audrey raised her eyebrows, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at him.  
“Yeah, but you haven’t heard them yet. The grievers. And you’ll want to before you try to sleep.” Newt pointed out, reminding Audrey of his earlier warnings.  
“Alright, good point.” Audrey sighed, before continuing with “So, I didn’t ask you earlier … I mean with the whole relationship discussion, what about you?”  
“Me? Like, romantic relationship wise?” Newt asked, clearing his throat.  
“Yeah, that's what I asked. Second in command means you must know everyone right?”  
“Yeah, I mean I greet everyone into the glade and stuff..”  
“Okay.. and?” Audrey asked, trying to get him to stop avoiding her question.  
“And what?”  
“And what about the ladies, don’t you have them draped all over you? I mean you have a british accent.” Audrey pointed out, smiling to herself.  
“How many girls did you see draped over me today?” Newt laughed, running his fingers through his blonde hair.  
“Twenty-three.”  
“Yeah, sounds about right.” He laughed again. Audrey wondered how you could possibly have an accent while laughing. “Seriously though, I don’t have any romantic involvement. Not for a long time anyways.”  
“What happened?”  
“Griever. Her name was Jen.” He said shortly, clearly not wanting to talk about it. “That ended about nine months ago.”  
“Sorry.”  
“She was a runner. Runners always die. Don’t fall for a runner. That’s rule number four. Rule five, don’t be a runner.” He said with complete seriousness.  
“Gotcha, wasn't planning on it. Being a runner anyways.” Audrey laughed. “No promises on not falling for a runner though.”  
“Got Minho on your mind?”  
“Ew, no.” She laughed, turning on her side to look at him. “Tell me more about the people here.”  
“What do you wanna know?” Newt asked, shifting his head to the side to meet her gaze.  
“The happy bits, things that make you laugh. No more about grievers or how we’re stuck here.” Audrey decided, biting at her lip. “There has to be some good in this place, right? Tell me about the parts that aren’t bad.”  
“Gally’s drink, as awful as it tastes, is actually something that he made up one day after we thought we’d figured a way out. He originally said he was going to make the best tasting juice in the world, and once we got out it's what we would drink to celebrate.” Newt started, scooting closer to Audrey as more people came inside.  
“Okay, that clearly didn’t work out. How come you drink the awful stuff?”  
“It was something that made us laugh once we realized we couldn’t leave. We opened it up and expected it to taste decent, and thought it would help us with the disappointment. Instead it wound up tasting bloody awful. Imagine if we had gotten out and that's what we had to celebrate.”  
“It would’ve been some celebration.” Audrey shook her head. “Why still make it?”  
“Give him something to do other then complain about life here. And it’s a reminder of our attempts of getting out.”  
“But he wouldn’t be insulted if I choose water over it right?”  
“Gally? Yeah he would, so the best way to go about that is to pretend you’ve drank some already.” Newt smiled.  
“Noted. What else?” Audrey asked, excited to learn information that wouldn’t want to make her throw up dinner.  
“Every other night we have bonfires like tonight. Sometimes they are this big huge event that keeps us up late, and other times they are small gatherings like tonight. It's just a chance for everyone to take a break from work and hang out with each other. Sometimes Alby hold contests and winner gets the extra clothes from the box.” Newt shrugs, repositioning himself on his bed. “Sometimes we act like idiots, drink too much Gally juice and dance around the fire.”  
“That's something I expect to see from you, Thao and Minho in the future now.” Audrey laughed, trying to picture the blonde haired boy in front of her dancing around like an idiot.  
“You’ll be joining in with us, just you wait.”  
“Oh my god, Minho, Newt is naked.” Thao screeched from the door.  
“I’m not naked, slinthead.” Newt laughed, throwing his sheet over his chest. “How was your lovely shower together?”  
“Great, thanks.” Minho replied, straight faced as he walked into the room.  
“Are they joking?” Audrey whispered, just loud enough for Newt to hear.  
“Obviously.” He whispered back. “You two both heading out tomorrow?” He asked, raising his voice again so the others could hear.  
“Yeah, with Ben. Nick’s going to Map tomorrow.” Thao explained, stripping her jeans and sliding under the covers. “I think the next day I might be staying. Unless we find something. Then we’ll all be out.”  
“Good that.” Newt muttered, rolling onto his side. “I’m knackered.”  
“You’re the one who wouldn’t let me sleep until the grievers decide to come out, so don't even think about going to sleep right now.” Audrey warned, letting herself fall onto her back.  
“Why? I already know that they sound like!” Newt huffed, and Audrey took her pillow to whack him gently.  
“You kept me up, so you don't get to sleep until I do.”  
“It shouldn’t be too long now anyways Newt, I think you can live until Greenie here hears what we’re fighting against out there.”  
And just like that the group starts to hear clicking, whining and screeching come from outside the walls. It was loud, and sounded as painful as Newt had described it earlier. “Oh my gosh…” Audrey mumbled, moving to cover her ears. “That’s an awful sound.”  
“Get use to it, they do that most nights.”  
“Great.” Audrey sighed, turning back on her side and tugging the sheets up to her shoulder. “How long do they do this for?”  
“Only a few minutes every couple of hours…” Minho groaned, shutting his eyes and laying on his stomach. He flung his hand out and ‘accidentally’ smacked Thao’s arm.  
“Slinthead.” She muttered, snuggling into her blankets like a small child. “Night Newt. Night Audrey. Night Minho.”  
“Good night.”  
“Night.”  
“Shuck-face.”  
“Night Audrey.” Newt whispered, opening his eyes to look at her. “Don’t be afraid to wake me up, if the grievers get too loud, or frightening.”  
“I think i’ll be fine.” Audrey assured him, rolling her eyes.  
“You keep telling yourself that.”  
\--------  
Three hours later, Audrey lay wide awake. The grievers were bad. They haunted her, their screeches chilled her to the bone. How did they know they wouldn’t come into the glade?  
“Newt.” She whispered, barely loud enough for herself to hear. He must have been awake, since his hand reached out and grabbed hers.  
“Try to sleep.” He whispered back, squeezing her hand tightly.  
“That's what I’ve been trying to do.” She sighed frustratedly, shifting in her bed to face his general direction again. “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”  
“I had a feeling you weren’t going to be alright with the grievers.” He shrugged, his eyes still closed and pressed against his pillow. “Just think of something else.”  
“Like what?”  
“Something that makes you happy.” Newt mumbled, obviously on the verge of falling asleep now.  
Audrey didn’t respond, not wanting to keep him from getting any more sleep. Instead she closed her eyes and focused most of her attention to her hand that was still wrapped up with Newt’s. This worked for about ten minutes, until the grievers started up again. “I don’t remember anything that makes me happy… all I have is tod-- yesterday's memories.” She whispered quietly again, almost hoping to have no answer so at least he was getting some sleep.  
“You are gonna be fine, they don’t come in the glade. Ever.” Newt shushed her, struggling to stay awake anymore. “Trust me, just go to sleep.”  
A few minutes later Audrey could hear Newt’s quiet snores, and knew he was finally asleep, which made her happy. And then a half an hour later, she finally fell asleep too.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Chapter two is here! We'll let you get on with reading, hope you like it!  
> -Alex and Katie

Audrey woke to find her three friends missing. She looked around the room to see most of the beds were occupied, three others were empty. She sat up, slipped her shoes on, and walked out of them room.As she was doing this, she wondered what she was going to do, if she found her friends dead, or missing for real. She immediately regretted the decision to go looking for them, but trekked on anyways.   
Once she got outside, she noticed a group of six standing by the west door. She made her way towards the gladers, smiling when they saw her.   
“Morning Greenie.” Alby called, waving at her. Newt stood beside Ben, and had failed to notice her until Alby called out. “We’re just seeing off our runners.”  
“We’ll see you later Audrey, don’t worry about us too much, the grievers are mostly asleep during the day.” Thao explained, giving her a side hug.   
“Later, greenbean.” Minho called, as he followed a sandy-haired boy into the maze. Audrey decided this must be Ben.   
“Morning love, how’d you sleep?” Newt asked, slinging his arm around her.   
“Terribly.” Audrey scoffed, rubbing at her eyes. “Do grievers really sleep for most the day?”   
“Yeah, that’s why we send the runners out so early. After screeching like that all night, they hole up for a few hours.” Alby answered her before Newt had a chance to. “Ready for your tour today?”   
“I think so, but as for the whole job bit, I’m telling you right now I'm not doing anything that involves killing animals or running from monstrous animal machines.” She stated, making both Alby and Newt laugh.   
“So what's that leave us with for you? Track-hoes, Cooks, Builders, Med-Jacks and Sloppers?” Alby grinned, listing off the names for Audrey to hear.   
“Who comes up with the names for these things?”   
“We do.” Newt smiled, watching to see how Audrey would react.   
“Track-hoes, Sloppers? What do they do? The other three are pretty much self-explanatory…”   
“Track-hoes are in charge of gardening, taking care of the weeds that pop up and harvesting the food for the cooks when it's ready.” Alby explains, pointing over towards the garden “It’s where Newt works most days.”   
“That explains why your shirt is covered in dirt.” Audrey mumbled, glancing at Newt with a smile.   
“And Sloppers… well they are basically maids. They make sure the homestead stays neat, they muck out our pee pots. They do all the jobs no one else wants.”   
“Im not doing that either, so take me to who ever I need to see for any of the other four jobs.” Audrey decided, looking over at Alby now.   
“Four as in Med-jacks, Cooks, Builders and Track-hoes?” Alby clarified, and Audrey nodded her head. “Okay, follow Newt and I.”   
“Let’s go to the Track-hoes first.” Newt suggested, leading them towards the Gardens. As they approached the Gardens, Audrey noticed about five people working away. “Hey boys.” Newt called, slapping one of the boys on the back.  
“Hey Newt, Alby. Hi Greenie.” He responded. “My name’s Zart. I’m keeper of the Gardens.” Audrey stared at him, giving him a slight nod. What was with the names around here? She wondered. “You interested in being a track-hoe?”  
“Maybe, I don’t know yet.” She replied, looking to Newt. Newt smiled at her, before handing her a hoe.   
“Try it out, see what you think.” He told her, grabbing a pair of gloves for her as well.   
“Remember Greenie, if you pick this job, you have to spend the whole day with this shuck-face.” Alby laughed, gesturing to Newt.   
“Sounds awful.”   
Newt led her around the Gardens, showing her what to do and how to do it. They had been working for about twenty minutes, when Audrey’s stomach rumbled. “I haven’t had breakfast.”   
“Well let’s head to the kitchens then. Frypan can show you around and get you some food.”   
“Perfect, let's go!” Audrey smiled, gently placing the hoe and glover into a bin near them and waiting for Newt to do the same before walking alongside him to the kitchen. “So is that what you do everyday then? Spend all your time in the gardens?”   
“Most of the time. Sometimes I’ll help Frypan if we are celebrating a discovery, but we haven’t had one of those in a while. If I’m feeling nice I’ll also help the sloppers, but that's something that rarely ever happens.”  
“Does anyone else jump jobs?” Audrey asked as they reached the kitchen, Newt moving to hold open the door for her.  
“Not really, the jobs work so that if you're good at it you stay there.” Newt mumbled, before smiling at Frypan as they entered. “Hey Fry, Audrey here needs some breakfast and a Keeper talk.”   
“Hi there.” Audrey smiled, looking around briefly.   
“Hey there Greenie!”   
\------------  
“Right, so you’ve seen all the jobs, which one do you want?” New asked, as they left the builders.   
“I think I liked the Med-Jacks.” She told him, glancing over at the group of med-jacks who were laughing together.   
“Suit yourself love, the track-hoes are far better.” Newt pouted, crossing his arms in fake annoyance. She smiled at him, and he let his pout slip into a huge grin. “Right, there is one last thing we need to do, which every Glader does.”  
“What’s that?” She asked. He handed her a knife and hammer.  
“Follow me.” He started walking towards the edge of the Glade. “Every Glader puts their name on this wall, see? It’s like an initiation ceremony.” He explained as they reached the towering wall.   
The section of the wall in front of her had about 60 names carved into it, but some of them were scratched out. “Why are those scratched out?” she asked, pointing to what appeared to have been the name Jacob.   
“They’re dead.” Newt replied shortly, pointing to a blank space on the wall next to his name. “That looks like a good spot.”  
“You just want to be as close to me as possible, don’t you?” She accused, putting the knife to the wall.   
“You caught me.” He laughed, watching her beat at the knife. “Need some help there?”   
“I have no idea what i’m doing.” Audrey admitted, holding the tools in her hand.   
“Here.” He offered, standing behind her and putting his hands over hers. “It’s not too hard.”   
He guided her hands and showed her what direction to hit the knife in. “You have to use some force.”   
“Why can’t my name be four letters short like yours? And on top of that, all the letters in your name are pretty easy to shape out.” Audrey sighed. “This ‘U’ just might end up driving me crazy.”   
“Just concentrate on moving the knife in the direction you want it to go, it’ll be fine.” Newt smiled, letting go of her hands and backing away from her by the time she started on the ‘E’. “See, your doing great.”   
“It looks like a two year old writing out their name for the first time with a pencil that keeps snapping on them.” Audrey laughed, running her finger over it when she was done.   
“Well, at least this two year old tried her best.” Newt smirked, shaking his head. Audrey rolled her eyes before looking at all the names on the wall, trying to locate Newt’s runner they had talked about last night. She quickly skimmed over all the crossed out names, before finding it on the opposite side of the wall, a little higher up then Audrey could reach.   
“How do some of the names get so high up? I mean I’ve noticed some tall people today, but some of these…. Did you guys build a ladder?” She asked, quickly looking away from that particular name and just at the wall in general.   
“Yeah, or they rode on other people's shoulders.” Newt nodded, watching Audrey as she looked at the wall.   
“When are Thao and Minho suppose to be back by?” She asked, completely changing the subject.   
“Soon, shouldn’t be too long now.”   
“How do you guys tell time?” Audrey wondered, concerned by the preciseness that was required for the runners to be back on time.   
“Well, when the sun goes down, it’s called night time. When it comes back up, we call it morning. Pretty cool hey? I’ll let you in on a little secret. When the sun is straight up in the sky, it’s called afternoon.” Newt smirked at her, folding his arms.  
“Thanks for letting me in on your little secret, bud. Is that all the runners do, though, watch the sun and judge how long they have left?” Audrey asked, handing him the tools.   
“Pretty much. It’s a risky job.” Newt looked at the sky. “They’re on their way back now, don’t worry about them.”   
“Thanks Newt.”  
“For what?”  
“Just, I don’t know, I had fun today. So thanks for spending the day with me.” She smiled, making her way towards the open door.   
“You’re welcome, m’lady.” He laughed, following closely behind.   
“Next time, drop the m’lady. You make it sound like i’m someone of the utmost importance with your accent.” Audrey turned back to look at him, shaking her head.   
“Maybe in your life before the Glade you were.” Newt grinned, dramatically bowing.   
“Maybe, but here i’m just the newest person to come out of that box. You're the one who's second in command.”   
“Does that mean you’re going to start calling me sir or something?”   
“Of course not! M’lady obviously suits you perfectly.” Audrey shook her head. “No, I’ll stick to the one I gave you yesterday. Accent.”   
“If I get that awful nickname then you need one.” Newt smirked, trying to come up with something. “What about blondie, or is that too obvious like mine?”   
“It could double as both of our nicknames, so I guess it's okay… Not my favorite.”   
“You think I like being referred to as Accent?” Newt laughed, and they finally approached the doors that their friends should be coming though any minute.   
“Yes.” Audrey laughed, shaking her head. “Are you the only one here with any kind of british accent?”   
“As far as I know... “ Newt trailed off as he saw the runners round the corner at the end of the maze. “Look who’s back.”   
“Hey Newty boy, I missed you.” Minho called, running up to the boy and throwing his arms around Newt. “I love you so much.” He declared, trying to plant kisses all over the boy.   
“Oh my god Minho, you need a girlfriend, you’re too lonely, this is just embarrassing, honestly.” Newt gasped, trying to move his face away from Minho, but failing miserably and his face was covered in sloppy, wet kisses. “Gross.”   
“Gross.” The girls agreed at the same time, laughing at the boys.   
“So, Audrey, you a track-hoe with this shuck-face now?” Minho asked, squeezing Newt tighter.  
“No, actually, I’m a med-jack.” Audrey told them, feeling proud and happy with her decision.   
“Well, when I take a stinger to the balls, I know who to come to.” Minho laughed, finally letting go of Newt. The scrawnier boy dusted himself off and took three obvious steps away from Minho.   
“Yeah… for that comment alone I wouldn’t be the one helping you with that. Just so you’re aware.” Audrey shook her head and smiled.   
“Good choice.” Newt laughed, before scanning the area near the kitchen. “Dinner anyone?”   
“Yes! I'm starving. Someone forgot to pack extra snacks today.” Thao smiled, taking off towards the kitchen.   
“How is it that after spending all day running, you want to run to dinner?” Audrey mumbled, mainly to herself as she watched Minho, Ben and Nick all run after her. She decided to try this running thing as well, maybe it would be fun, maybe there was a reason they like this job.  
It was not fun. Audrey did not enjoy running. Audrey was, however, excited for the food that frypan had made for dinner.   
“This is so good. Honestly, who knew food could be so good in a place like this.” She laughed, stealing a bite off Newt’s plate. He pouted at her, looking deeply hurt.   
“That was my last bite. I can’t believe you would do that to me. Friends off.” He pouted, making his bottom lip quiver.   
“Oooh.” The others laughed, shaking their heads.   
“So how was the maze today boys?” Newt asked, stealing a bite off Minho’s plate.   
“Nothing new, I mean there was some walls.” Minho supplied, stealing a glance at Thao.  
“Thanks Minho, that was helpful.”   
“You’re welcome, I do my best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Leave a comment and let us know! We love your sexy faces! We will be uploading on Tuesdays and Fridays from now on, so stay tuned!  
> -Alex and Katie


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody! Glad to see everyone is enjoying the story, here's chapter three :)  
> -Alex and Katie

After that, days in the Glade seemed to pass by in a flash. Audrey got to know Clint and Jeff better, and learned everything she could about the different injuries they see in the glade and the treatments they have for it. But as the days continued to pass, her favorite bit was always when she gets to hang out with Newt, Thao and Minho.   
“And our shifts are finally over.” Jeff sighed happily, high fiving with Clint before looking over at Audrey. “Just in time for you to scurry off to see the Runners come back again.”   
“Yeah, what's it like getting to hang out with the second in command and Keeper of the runners anyways? You always leave before you tell us anything.” Clint teased, watching as she rushed to pack up.   
“Newt and Minho are great, and also not that spectacular. If you want to get to know them, then make an effort… Now I’ve gotta go before I miss Newt leaving the Gardens. Bye boys” Audrey huffed, stuffing her pack before swinging it onto her shoulder and rushing out the door. “Boys.” She muttered to herself.  
“Boys? Don’t tell me you’ve got your eye on one of them med-jacks.” Newt appeared to her left, causing her to jump.   
“Maybe I do, got yourself a problem with that?” She laughed as they made their way towards the north door.   
“I do, in fact.” He laughed, throwing his head back, and grinning widely. Boys. “C’mon then, let’s go get our runners.”   
“If I had to be stuck somewhere remote, without any memories or anything, this would be the place I would choose, and it would be with you guys. I love you guys.”   
“I love you too.” He smiled, making eye contact with her. She stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t be rude.”  
“I am not rude, mister.” She pouted as they reached the door. “How many minutes, I’m guessing six.”   
“Three.” He countered, sitting on the grass. “Come sit, you’ve been standing all day love.”   
Audrey nodded and moved to sit beside him, chucking her bag behind her. “Oh my gosh, sitting feels great. Now all I need is to get Clint and Jeff to stop asking about you and Minho every five minutes and my day would be perfect.” She mumbled, shifting her bag a bit to use as a pillow as she laid down.   
“They ask about other guys in your life that often?” Newt asked, looking over at her.   
“No, I’m pretty sure they could care less about me. But you and Minho? I was wrong my first day, you don’t have girls draped all over you, you have all the guys around here wrapped around your finger.” Audrey said, shaking her head. “Its awful.”   
“Aww, poor Audrey.” Newt teased, and was about to tease her some more before he saw Minho round the corner. “I win, roughly three minutes.”   
“Hey slackers, what ya sitting around for? Don’t got nothing better to do?” Minho asked, as he and Thao jogged out of the maze.   
“I’m just waiting for you Minho, you know I can’t stand not being around you all the time, it’s really heartbreaking.” Newt joked, using the sappiest voice he could conjure.   
“Awww Newt!” Minho gushed, rushing forward and tackling Newt backwards so that Minho was laying on top of him.   
“Get off me ya fat shuck.” Newt groaned, trying to wriggle out of Minho’s hold. Thao followed Minho’s actions, and crashed onto the boys, causing them both to groan heavily. Audrey laughed as she watched the boys struggle, Newt being squished beneath the two bodies, while Minho’s muscles seemed too exhausted from the day’s work to push himself from the ground.   
Newt lifted his good leg, simultaneously kicking Thao’s foot from underneath her, causing her to roll to the side; while his knee connected with the area between Minho’s legs, causing him to yell and roll to the side as well. This only made Audrey laugh harder.   
“I love you slintheads.” She gasped, trying to catch her breath. She finally sat up and dusted herself off before grabbing her bag and stretching a bit. “But I still don’t see why Clint and Jeff seem to think Newt and Minho are such rockstars.”   
“Wait, what?” Thao asked, sitting up and rubbing her foot. “Why would they think that about you shanks.”   
“According to Audrey, it’s because they love us.” Newt rolled his eyes and got to his feet, offering his hand out to both Thao and Audrey.   
“I swear they’ve got to, you should hear them talk about you. I’m almost positive it’s what's caused my growing headache.”   
“Obviously they talk about us all day because we’re badasses who rule the glade with Alby. Not a big deal.”   
“Then you can go listen to them tomorrow for my shift... “ Audrey sighed. “I thought it would be more fun, but, and not that this is a bad thing, but we’ve barely had anyone come in at all. There was one guy who came in with a minor cut, but all he needed was a wash and bandage.”   
“Honestly, if someone is going to come in for something more than a bruised knee, it’s going to be one of us runners. So maybe it’s lucky you’ve only needed to help one guy.” Minho supplied, painfully getting to his feet, remaining bent over. “Newt, come here so I can repay the favour.”  
“Not a chance, you can’t even stand right now.” Newt laughed, now on his feet as well.  
“Oh yeah?” Minho stood up straight and aimed a fist at Newt. Newt dodged it, yelled,and took off running towards dinner.  
“Boys.”Both girls muttered at the same time. They laughed, and made their way towards dinner themselves. “So, Newt’s cute.” Thao pointed out, nudging Audrey in the ribs.  
“Says the one who I’ve seen cuddle with Minho on a regular basis.” Audrey nudged back, shaking her head. “I mean, I’ve only been here for a few days…But you guys are totally into each other. What is stopping you? Either of you!” She decided to push the subject a little, hoping to find out more about Minho and Thao and avoid talking about Newt and his cuteness in general.   
“It’s complicated.” Thao supplied, looking away from Audrey.  
“I’ve heard that before, try a better excuse.”  
“There’s a lot of history. With other people, and between us. It’s not safe to fall for a runner. Anyways, his B.O. smell like klunk.” She laughed. She had a ringing laugh, Audrey liked it. “But please, you and Newt held hands all night the first night. And the second. And maybe even the third.”  
“Wait, we can get to Newt and hand holding in a second. Newt told me a bit about Jen, and how he has his own fourth and fifth rules. The whole, don't fall for a runner and don't be a runner… But if you are a runner and you’ve already fallen for one… it doesn't matter either way. Neither of you are safe anymore.” Audrey pointed out, mostly as a way to think through what she was going to say about Newt, but also to figure out why Thao was thinking about the idea of her and Minho.   
“It’s easier when one of us dies. Now stop avoiding the question.”  
“I'm not avoiding it. I’m making you talk about your stupid reasons to not date a boy you obviously care a whole lot about. Will it really be easier when one of you dies? Or will the one who lives regret not ever getting together while you still could and being happy in the moment?” Audrey sighed. “Doesn’t it bother you that you haven't even tried yet? I mean, what if the first time you kiss you end up hating it anyways? Better to live with no regrets then to die with them.”   
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand. I’ve seen people ripped apart out there, I’ve seen people try to kill themselves out there, after they’ve been stung. I’ve seen a whole lot of shucked up things, Audrey, and maybe I’m not looking to get in a relationship, with anyone. It’s not safe to fall for a runner.” Thao emphasized, pointing at herself. “And for the record, I did not hate our first kiss. Now, either explain what's going on between you and Newt, or this conversation is over.”  
“Nothing! He held my hand for the first three nights when the grievers still scared the crap out of me, yeah. But that’s it, that’s what's going on. I dunno if thats suppose to mean anything or not, but it hasn’t happened since the third night.” Audrey rambled, still unclear about the whole situation herself. “And, just for your record, I know I don't and never will understand any of that, but I’m still going to root for the two of you anyways.”   
“You like him.”  
“Do I? Because I really can't seem to sort out my feelings about this.” Audrey sighed, biting at her lip. “I mean, he isn’t exactly open about things, and he's constantly grumpy and God, the amount of sass he has. Both Minho and him actually, I didn’t know it was possible to be that sassy. But I haven't even been here for three weeks yet, and I’m still the stupid greenie…” She rambled again, not staying as on point this time.   
“Newt’s a good guy. Probably the nicest guy in the Glade. If you’re so worried about him being closed off, why don’t you ask him what his life was like in the Glade before you got here?” Thao paused, like she was considering saying something, before she continued. “He likes you, you know I can see it in his eyes, they light up everytime you’re around.”  
“You’re right, I know he’s a good guy, I knew that the second I met him, but I’ve asked a few times, but he’s vague and then gets grumpy… and I don't want to push him into talking about something if he doesn't want to discuss it.” Audrey blushed, thinking about the second bit Thao said. “So I’ll just wait until he’s ready to talk about it, and until then nothing else can really happen, can it?” She finished with a smile as they finally approached the boys.   
“Hey girls, what took you so long?” Minho asked, shoving a plate of food at Thao.   
“We were talking about you guys.” Thao laughed, gratefully accepting the plate.  
“Us? What were ya bloody sayin’? It was all good, I trust?” Newt asked, handing Audrey her own plate of food.  
“Thanks. No we were just talking about Thao’s massive crush on you, Newt.” She laughed, shoveling some chicken into her mouth.  
“It’s true, I just can’t resist you.” Thao laughed, slinging an arm around his shoulders and kissing him on the cheek.  
“Oh my god, you two are so gross.” Newt complained, eyes darting between Minho and Thao. “Honestly, why must I receive kisses from you two every single shucking day?”   
“Not like you’re getting kisses from anyone else, Newtie boy. We’re just trying to make ya feel loved. We know how hard it must be, looking so bad, all the time.” Minho assured in a fake, sympathetic voice.  
“Wow, what good friends you lot are.” Newt laughed, taking a bite of his own food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Leave a comment and let us know! <3  
> -Alex and Katie


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody! Glad to see there's so many reads already! We are currently finishing up writing The Scorch Trials version of our series, and it's really important that you guys enjoy the innocent character building now while you have it, because we all know what happens to these poor characters.   
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter guys!

“Why is there still another week till the hell box brings up a new person? I swear if I have to listen to another person call me Greenie one more time, I’m going to end up breaking rule number two” Audrey sighed, leaning back against the log near the bonfire. “Can’t everyone just use my name now?”   
“But you’re still the newest newbie, which makes you the greenie. Can’t change the tradition now just because your whiny.”   
“Shuck it.” Audrey laughed, the word still sounding odd coming out of her mouth. “I’ve picked up the dork language you guys use and I’ve been here three weeks. Shouldn’t that mean no more nickname?”   
“You understand the terms, but just listen to yourself saying it. It’s like your whole body rejects the word every time you blurt it out.”   
“Does not!” Audrey protested, rather weakly before turning to look at Newt. “Right?”   
“Course not.” He assures her,looking the opposite direction. Audrey can picture the smirk on his face.   
“Load of help you are.” She muttered, smiling at him. “So, do you think the greenie is going to be a boy or girl?” She asked her friends.  
“Boy.” All three of them answered at once, not looking up from whatever they were doing.  
“Why?” She wondered why they didn’t think there was any chance for a girl.  
“Never been two girls in a row. Girls are scarce.” Minho shrugged, adjusting the wrappings around his hands and wrists. “I think we should drink a klunk ton of Gally’s Juice tonight, and dance around the fire like a bunch of shucks.”   
“I’ve been waiting to see that.” Audrey grinned, nodding her head in agreement. “How good of dancers are you all anyways?”   
“The best you’ll ever see.” Thao laughed, before adding. “At least we’re better than half the klunk-heads here. You should see Ben dancing after he’s had Gally’s little drink.”   
“What about Gally and Alby? They shouldn’t be allowed to bloody dance after last time.” Newt shook his head.   
“What happened last time?” Audrey asked curiously, looking between the three as she waited for an answer.   
“Gally thought singing would be a good idea, and Alby interpreted it. Lets just say things got a little out of hand, and super shucking weird.”   
“And you’re saying you don't want to see them make idiots of themselves again? What is wrong with you?”   
“No love, you really don't what to ever experience what happened last time. Trust us.” Newt laughed, his hand pressed to his stomach. “C’mon then shanks, let’s go get this party started.”   
\-------------   
Audrey could not believe she had drank a whole bottle of that damned juice. Not to mention the half of Newt’s bottle she drank. She was thankful she had, because she hadn’t laughed this long in all her memory.   
Minho and Thao were skipping around the fire, arms linked, singing some awful song they seemed to be making up on the spot. Newt sat beside Audrey, laughing so hard he fell off the log they were sitting on. This only made Audrey laugh harder. Her stomach hurt.   
“Let’s dance!” Newt laughed as he stumbled back to his feet. He grabbed her arm, and dragged her towards the fire. He grabbed her waist, and the pair started spinning in large circles.   
“We’re going to fall in!” Audrey warned, a huge smile on her face as she looked up at Newt. “We are literally going to burn to death, because of Gally’s stupid juice.”  
“We’re a good foot and a half away from the fire, we’re fine!” Newt assured her, continuing to spin around, moving a little faster now.   
A few minutes later Audrey stopped them and tried to catch her breath, holding onto one of Newt’s shoulders for support. “I think I’m gonna be sick… too much spinning.” She mumbled, her free hand moving to cover her mouth. “I’m going to grab a water, you keep dancing.” She told him a few seconds later, standing up on her own and making her way towards the kitchen, leaving Newt to go dance with Thao and Minho.   
When she got back a mere five minutes later, she shook her head at the sight in front of her. Minho and Newt had hoisted Thao up so the she was sitting on their shoulders. “People of my kingdom,” She began, holding up a bottle, which some of the juice splashed out. “I hereby announce that Minho is the biggest slinthead in the world, and we should all poor water on his head.”   
Minho immediately dropped Thao and took off running, Newt and Thao right behind him. They tackled him to the ground. Newt pinned his legs to the grass, while Thao held his hands above his head. “Man, Thay, I always pictured you pinning my hands above my head, but the circumstances were a bit different.”  
“You’re sick.” She laughed, watching as a few of the other boys brought over buckets of water. “On my count boys,” Minho wriggled underneath their hold, trying to free himself. “One, two, three.”   
On three, Minho broke free of her grip, and pulled her forward so that she got most of the water. Audrey burst out laughing, as did Newt who let go of Minho’s feet just in time for Minho to run away from Thao.   
“How did dancing turn to... Whatever that was in five minutes?” Audrey asked, offering her hand to help Newt up as she watched Thao and Minho run around the bonfire.   
“It’s the bloody juice.” Newt laughed, taking her hand and getting up.   
“Yeah, I think I’ll be sticking to water for the rest of the night now.” Audrey shook her head, before taking a sip from the water bottle.   
“Aww, no more Gally juice? I thought you were starting to enjoy it.”   
“You don't even like the taste of it. Why would I?” She asked, before Minho came back up to them and pulled Newt in front of him.   
“Im screwed, Newtie. Help.” He begged jokingly, although still hid behind Newt as Thao approached.   
“I hate you.” Thao informed Minho. Newt moved out of the way quickly, bumping into Audrey and sending them both falling to the ground. Thao stormed up to the boy and pushed him up against the wall of Homestead. The kids around them started laughing. Audrey smiled for her place on the grass, fully aware that Newt was laying half on top of her still.  
Audrey watched as Minho sent a glance at a few of the Gladers, smirking as he did so. He quickly turned his gaze back to Thao, when she not-so-gently pinned his arms above his head for the second time that night. His expression changed to one of mock fear, as if he was terrified of what Thao might do.  
She leaned in, standing on her toes, so that her lips were only a few centimeters away from his. The Gladers started cheering, Minho’s eyes darkened as he looked down at her. “She’s not going to do it.” Newt whispered, still laying on top of Audrey.  
Thao moved so that her lips were against his ear. She whispered something, that cause Minho’s face to go very pale. She took a step back, flipped the boy off, and walked away with her head held high. Audrey burst out laughing.  
“What do you think she said?” She asked Newt, focusing her attention on him now.   
“Whatever it was, musta been good. Look at that Shanks face.” He shook his head and smiled.   
“No kidding.” Audrey agreed, before trying to adjust her position a little. “Hey Newt?”   
“Mhmm?”   
“Did you plan on getting up any time soon, because my hip is kind of pinned against the ground and it's not the most comfortable position.” Audrey mumbled, and Newt moved back a little so that she could adjust her position and sit up. “Thanks, much better.”   
“I’m going to grab another bloody bottle, sure you don’t want another one?” He asked, hopping up and stretching out a little.   
“No, but you could grab me another water. Since you killed the other one.” She laughed.   
“Course. I’ll be right back with that.”   
“Thanks Newt.” Audrey called as he started to walk off, before scanning the crowd to see where Thao or Minho went. Getting up, she moved to sit on the log instead of the ground and leaned a little to the left to see passed the bonfire.   
She spotted Minho sitting with Nick, Ben, and Gally, who all seemed to be teasing him about what happened. She kept scanning the crowd, but to no avail, did she find Thao. “You see where Thao went?” She asked as Newt came back with both their drinks in hand.   
“She’ll turn up eventually, lets just have some fun.” Newt grinned, placing the drinks down and pulling Audrey to her feet, making them dance around again.   
“How many bottles of that stuff have you had?” Audrey asked a few minutes later when Newt slowed the dancing a bit.   
“Three and a half. But I’m fine love.” He smiled, starting to spin them around slowly. “See?”   
“If you say so..” She mumbled before Newt tripped over his own feet and stumbled around a little. “Okay… I think we should head to bed, what do you think?”   
“Good that.” Newt yawned, moving to wrap his arm around her as they headed towards the Homestead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment and tell us what you think! :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! We hit 100 reads! Thanks so much <3  
> -Alex and Katie

“How long till it comes up?” Audrey asked Newt for the third time in the last fifteen minutes, nearly bouncing with excitement.   
“Soon I think, You’ll hear the box sound like when it bring up supplies.” He said as he rolled his eyes at her excitement.   
“I’m not going to be the stupid Greenie in a few minutes, and I get to see if Alby takes up my suggestions about how to introduce the Glade to the newbie.”   
“Wait, you gave suggestions to Alby? When?” Newt asked, looking away from the box to stare at her.   
“He came in to see that guy who’d sliced open his hand by accident, and we spoke for a bit.” Audrey shrugged. “Why?”   
“Nothing, just surprised me is all. Why didn’t you tell me?”   
“Alby just happened to come in, and so I told him. If I hadn’t seen him, I would’ve suggested it to you.”   
“No, I mean why didn’t you tell me you spoke with Alby?” Newt pushed, making it a bigger deal than Audrey thought it was.   
“Why’s it matter?” She asked, shocked at his entire demeanor.   
“It doesn’t.” He answered shortly, not looking at her.  
“Obviously it does, just tell me.” It was her turn to push the conversation.   
“Audrey,I just- I-” A loud bell rang out, causing Audrey to jump. She ran to the edge of the Box, looking down, excitement pumping through her blood. The box reached the top, and opened, shuttering to a halt.  
Audrey looked in and gasped. The boy inside couldn’t have been more than twelve. He was sitting in the corner, knees pulled to his chest. Newt jumped in, just as he had done when Audrey arrived. He approached the boy, holding out his hand, but the boy shrank back.  
Audrey jumped into the box herself, pushing past a startled Newt, and sitting next to the boy. “My name is Audrey, and this is Newt. Can you remember your name?”  
“C-Chuck.” The boy answered, looking over at her.   
“Audrey, you aren’t suppose to be in here.” Newt mumbled, not really enforcing it much.   
“Shuck it Newt.” She hushed him, before looking back at Chuck. “You’re going to be okay now, we can get out of this box and help you out. Alright?” She asked, smiling at him.   
“Yeah, o-okay.” He mumbled, taking Audrey’s hand as she held it out for him, and getting up with her.   
“Audrey, you’re really not suppose to be handling this.” Newt stopped her as she helped Chuck out. “I don’t want you getting thrown in the slammer.”   
“It’s fine Newt.” She smiled at him and got out of the box herself.   
“It won’t be when Alby finds out. Or Gally.” Newt whispered to himself before following them out. As soon as he had gotten out, he saw Alby and Gally approaching both the new Greenie and Audrey, and quickly made his way over.   
“She was just- I told her to- she didn’t know-” Newt tried to tell them as they walked towards greenie.   
“Slim it Newt.” Gally shot, walking up to the kid. “Hey greenie, I’m Gally. This is Alby. And this,” He gestured around himself. “Is the Glade. It’s where we live.”  
“How did I get here? Wh-where’s my mom?” Chuck looked so scared, Audrey’s heart sank.   
“Do you remember you mom?” Gally asked, kneeling in front of the boy. Audrey was shocked at the kindness from Gally, but wondered if Alby had talked to Gally about her suggestions.  
The boy’s eyes welled with tears, and he shook his head. “No. I don’t remember anything.”  
Audrey bit her lip and quickly turned her head so that her face was hidden from Alby, Gally and the boy as she wiped at her eyes. This wasn’t fair, this kid was so young compared to anyone she’d seen yet and he didn’t deserve to be taken away from whatever his life was before.   
“That’s alright, it’s the same for everyone here. Why don’t we grab you some dinner and talk more in that building over there, we call it the Homestead.” Alby pointed to it, and the boy nodded. “Gally is going to take you, and I’ll be right there.” Gally nodded and started walking towards the kitchen with the boy, leaving Alby with Audrey and Newt.   
“Alby, before you say anything or Newt tries to make up excuses for me, I just want you to know that I saw how young he was and how scared he was, and I just acted on impulse. Newt warned me twice that I shouldn’t have done that, but I ignored him. So whatever the punishment for that is, I’ll do it. I just wanted to help Chuck.” Audrey stated rather quickly, putting her hand out to stop Newt from jumping to her defence.   
“You’re both slintheads. You could have been killed,” He pointed to Audrey, before rearing on Newt. “And you’re just a shuck-face. Now go see is your runner friends are back yet.”  
Newt left out a sigh as soon as Alby left. “Well, that went better than expected.”  
“Why don’t you want me talking to him?” Audrey asked,not forgetting about their earlier conversation.   
“Later. These shanks are cutting it close again, I’m going to bloody kill Minho.” Newt nearly growled as he lead them towards the south doors. “Honestly, there’s nothing out there that’s worth them getting killed.”   
“Not even a way out?” Audrey asked, biting her tongue. She knew this was a sensitive subject for Newt.  
“There’s no way out.” He mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear.  
“What?”  
“I would rather be stuck here for the rest of eternity, than have you three gone.” He spoke louder this time, his pace quickening.  
“What’s out there Newt. What’s worth staying out there for so long?” She was worried, they rarely stayed out so late.  
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”  
“They’ll be back before it closes, they always have been.” Audrey tried to reassure both Newt and herself with that, watching the corners of the maze closely as they waited just outside the doors.   
“They have minutes left, where the bloody hell are they?” Newt huffed, starting to pace back and forth.   
“There! See, their fine.” Audrey sighed, catching a glimpse of what she thought was Minho’s arm, before the rest of him and Thao appeared. “And they’ll make it.”   
“Only just in time for me to kill them all.” Newt grumbled, preparing himself to yell at the four of them. “They have to start coming back sooner.”   
“I’m not going to disagree with you there…” Audrey nodded, and smiled as the others finally slipped through the doors.   
“Where the bloody hell were you? You nearly missed the doors, and could’ve been trapped out there. When are you shucks going to get it through your head that you have to come back with more than seconds to spare!” Newt raged, not even letting Minho get close enough to him for their usual daily hug.   
“Why’s that your business? You’re no longer a runner, and you’re not our boss. We can choose to stay in the maze how ever long we want.” Minho shot back crossing his arms defiantly.   
Newt punched Minho’s face. Hard enough for blood to start pouring, and Minho to stagger back. Thao jumped between the boys, pushing Newt away when he started to go at Minho again. “What’s your problem Newt?” She asked, not looking too impressed.  
Newt’s answer was lost as Minho pushed Thao to the side, walking up to Newt. His nose was crooked, swollen and dripping blood.   
“Hey Shuckface, why don’t ya come into the maze with us to find out what’s wrong? Oh, that’s right, I almost forgot what you did to that shuck leg of yours.” With that Minho punched him back, knocking Newt off his feet. “So I guess I’ll tell you. The grievers aren’t sleeping much, Newt. It won’t be long before one of us gets stung. So next time we get back a little later than you’d like. Be thankful we aren’t dead.”  
Minho walked away, towards the map room, papers clutched in his hand so tightly Audrey thought they might rip. She looked at Thao and just shook her head, before moving to sit beside Newt, who hadn’t moved since Minho had yelled at him. “You okay?” She asked, as she watched Thao go off towards the map room.   
“Bloody fantastic.” He answered sarcastically, sitting up and wiping his nose.   
“Newt... “ Audrey started, moving to inspect where Minho punched him. “Why’d you do that? What was the point?”   
“I don't want to talk about this right now.” He grumbled, getting up and stalking off towards the Homestead, leaving Audrey sitting on the ground outside the now closed doors alone.   
“What the hell just happened…” She mumbled to herself, deciding to let Newt cool off and go see if Thao had gone to see Minho or not. She got up a few seconds later and made her way towards the map room, lightly knocking on the door when she got there. She heard quiet voice inside who seemed to be oblivious to the knock.  
“I can’t believe you think you can just push me around like that.” It was Thao, and she didn’t sound impressed.  
“I don’t. I know I can’t. You’re way too strong for me to do that.” Minho let out a short laugh. “Thao, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. I know that means klunk to you, so if I do it again, you can kick my butt, like I know you can.”   
“Shuckface.” Silence. Audrey wondered if she should knock again, or if she should just leave.   
“That was real dumb, y’know. Mentioning his shuck leg in front of her. I don’t care how mad you were, that was straight out of line.”  
“He was out of line. Shank broke my nose.” Audrey thought she should leave, go check on Newt, but she stayed glued to the spot. There was another long silence, and Audrey realised Minho had probably admitted defeat.   
“I’m scared.” The voice was quieter now, but it was definitely Minho. “The grievers- Newt- everything is shucked up.” Audrey heard a sigh, but didn’t know which of them it had come from. “Nothing is the same. Everything's a mess, I don’t know what’s going on, but i’m terrified.”  
“I know one thing that isn’t messed up.” Thao replied. Audrey didn’t hear anymore voices after that, deciding she should go. She had a pretty good idea of what had just happened, anyways. So she left as quietly as she could, before running off to find Newt. She checked the Homestead first, seeing as that's the direction he had stormed off in, but he wasn’t there, so she checked the kitchens, the gardens and the med-jack area before running out of places to look. Until she thought of the forest, and the graveyard they had there. Would he actually have gone there?   
“Audrey.” She heard from behind her, turning around to see the exact person she was looking for.   
“Newt, there you are!” She sighed, moving to hug him. “I’m sorry about earlier with the whole Chuck thing, and then the Minho thing and that I didn’t tell you I talked to Alby, even though I don’t really understand why that's a bad thing.”   
“Why the hell are you apologizing right now? I’m the one who screwed up back there.. Speaking of which I need to go see Minho, apologize and get him to explain... “ Newt mumbled, hugging her back for a minute before breaking away. “I’ll find you again after alright? I’ve gotta go see Minho.”   
“Newt-”  
“Promise.” He whispered, reaching out and squeezing her hand just as he had done the first night. He ran off and Audrey sighed, walking back towards homestead.


	6. Chapter 6

Things had been tense in their group for the past few days. Minho and Thao talked less than usual, to each other, or anyone else. Newt and Minho barely spoke a word to each other, which left Audrey wondering what had actually happened in the maze room that night. The runners had already left for the day, all four of them went out. 

Audrey knew today was different. With all four runners gone, the place felt empty, there was no laughter from the slicers, none of Gally’s dumb jokes as he walked through the Glade. Newt had told her, before he slipped off, that the four of them never went out together, unless it was important. Audrey figured it was a classic example of safety in numbers.

She was sterilizing their makeshift doctor’s tools. There was no one hurt today, so Audrey was particularly bored. She wished someone would come in needing a bandage or something.  
But when Zart came in helping Newt to the bed, she instantly took it back. “What happened?: She asked, dropping what she was doing and rushing over. 

“It’s nothing, I just tripped over one of the plant roots and twisted my bad leg.” Newt waved it off, but hissed as he brought both legs up onto the table. 

“He couldn’t stand up on his own, so I brought him here. Against all of his demands not to... “ Zart explained, earning Newt a glare from Audrey. 

“Thanks Zart, I got it from here.” She smiled at him, and he left rather quickly after that. 

“Honestly, it doesn’t hurt that ba-” 

“Don’t you dare lie to me right now. Where does it hurt the most?” Audrey said, interrupting him and examining his leg. 

“Near my knee, but honestly Auds, I don't need you to look at it. I just need some cold water and a break and I’ll be good to go.” 

“Once I’ve looked at it, you can do just that.” Audrey insisted, refusing to let him up. 

“Audrey you don’t have to. It’s fine.” 

“I want to see it myself, make sure you aren’t lying just to get out of here.” 

“Why would I do that?” 

“Because you’ve been avoiding me since what happened with Chuck, and you refuse to tell me anything of importance that happened before I got here.” Audrey sighed, rolling his pants leg up to inspect his leg. He winced ever-so-slightly. Audrey could see a long scar in his leg, and noticed that the bone seemed to be at a weird angle. “Tell me, what happened to-”

“Newt.” It was Thao. She was standing in the doorway, face flushed, panting heavily. “What- What did you do?” She asked, stepping into the room. In one hand she held a second set of runner gear, it looked dusty, like it hadn’t been worn in months. 

“I bloody tripped, it’s fine.” He snapped, surprising Audrey.

“Can you run?” Thao asked, holding out the gear. 

“Yes-”

“No.” Audrey protested, not wanting the boy to hurt his leg any further. The pair ignored her. Newt was already bucking his gear and getting out of the bed. “No, Newt, I don’t care what’s happened, you need to rest.”

He ignored her.

“Prepare for a sting. And another with a whole lot of blood loss, and a nice head injury.” Thao called over he shoulder as Newt followed her out of the tent. The pair took off running hard towards the doors. 

“What happened?” Newt asked, his leg already in a lot of pain. “Who got stung?” 

“Nick.” Thao answered shortly, breathing very heavily as the sound of their running footsteps bounced off the walls. “The grievers, he-he told you they weren’t sleeping. They attacked us, three of em Newt. Ben’s guarding the two of em right now, but there was no way we were gonna get both of ‘em back and fight off any grievers.”

“What happened to Minho, is he alright?” Newt asked, gasping for breath.

“No, no it’s real bad Newt, his head won’t stop bleeding. I don’t think he’ll be okay.” Newt’s heart dropped to his stomach, his head spinning. Minho, oh god, Minho. They rounded a corner and Newt’s heart stopped all together. 

Ben was standing at the far end of the hall, weapon pointed to the right, were Newt could see the leg of a griever. Newt was terrified. He had hoped to never see one again, they still haunted his dreams. This whole place haunted his dreams. Nick lay on the floor, shaking, his mouth hanging open. Newt knew the screaming would start soon. 

Thao dashed past Nick to Ben, and the pair began to fight off the griever. Newt looked down for some sort of knife to help them with, but his eyes fell on his best friend. “Min.” He whispered, running to the boy’s side. Minho was laying in a pool of his own blood, his skin pale and cold. He was breathing, which Newt was thankful for, but he didn’t think Minho could last much longer.

Newt was shaking. His best shucking friend was laying in front of him, dieing. His other best friend was fighting a griever, with nothing more than a wooden spear. Newt couldn’t see any good coming from this. What if they didn’t make it back before the doors closed? What if they didn’t get the chance to try? Newt felt a pang in his heart as he thought of Audrey. He had to make it back, they all did.

Ben and Thao managed to fight off the griever, how, Newt would never know. Ben ran to Nick, and slung him over his shoulders, yelling back to the others. “We need to go, now!” Thao ran up to Newt and together they pulled Minho to his feet, carrying him between the two of them. 

The screams started from Nick, and the group moved as quickly as they could. Newt could hear the griever’s screams, almost taunting Nick as they made their way towards the exit. Newt heard the screams getting louder, and felt the adrenaline pumping through his blood. “Let’s go!” He yelled as they rounded the final corner. He saw the crowd of people in front of him, relief filling his when he saw her.

\-------- 

It had been over half an hour since Thao appeared and run off with Newt, and Audrey was starting to panic. As soon as Thao had said what to prepare for, Audrey yelled at Jeff and Clint and they had set up two beds and resterilized all of the equipment they had. 

“Any sign of them yet?” Jeff called from the doorway, since Audrey said she would keep any eye out for them. 

“Nothing. What of they don’t come back?” She asked, hoping that wasn’t the case. She kept her gaze ruled to the doors she’d seen Newt and Thao run out of, hoping that they would come back through it soon. 

“Don’t worry, we’re ready for when they do.” Jeff tried to assure her, before going back inside. Audrey thought over what Thao had said, and tried to think of what else they could do. They’d made up the beds and done everything they could inside, but would that be enough? 

“Jeff! Jeff, bring out the stretchers. We can meet them at the door, take them off of Newt, Thao and whoever else isn’t hurt and assist them on the way here.” She called as soon as she’d had the thought, and a minute later both her and Jeff were running towards the door with stretchers in hands. 

“Now we just have to wait… They’ll be here soon.” Jeff mumbled, and Audrey nodded in agreement. A few minutes later other people from the maze had started to gather around the door, all just as worried as she was and all waiting for the same thing she hoped to see any second. 

“What do you think happened out there?” 

“Who do you think got hurt?” 

“Someone said they saw Newt run out there.” 

“No way, he hasn’t been out there since-” The chatter around her was getting increasingly worse, and she was thankful when Alby showed up and everyone else shut up. 

“How long since they went out there?” He asked her, his gaze also fixed on the corner of the Maze. 

“Roughly a bit over half an hour, possibly more.” She sighed, breaking her stare at the maze to look at him. 

“There!” Someone shouted a few seconds later, making her head snap right back to the maze, to see Minho passed out in between Newt and Thao, and Ben dragging a screaming Nick towards them. She quickly looked at Clint and Jeff, who nodded at her and got some other gladers to help hold up the stretchers.

“Okay, please let us be prepared enough for this..” She mumbled quietly, able to relax just a little bit more now that she knew Newt, Thao and Minho were going to be back in the walls of the glade in seconds time. They burst through the door, and everyone sprang into action. Ben dumped Nick onto a stretcher, and followed behind the gladers as they carried him back. Newt and Thao dragged Minho to where Audrey was, and together the three of them lifted him on. They took off running, Newt and Thao bringing up the rear. 

When they got back, Alby was already at Nick’s bedside, questioning Ben. Newt and Thao stopped at the door, letting Audrey and the others work on Minho. It wasn’t looking good. Audrey told Thao this, as the girl walked closer to the bed. She had a flare in her eyes, on of determination. 

“Newt, you feel that? That ripping pain in your chest, the thumping in your head, the urge to cry, yet no tears will fall?” She asked him, turning back to face him. Audrey looked up quick enough to see the sadness on Newt’s face. “Do you know what that is? That’s the feeling of your best friend being ripped from you. You can’t do anything to help, you just have to watch.”

Tears fell from Newt’s eyes as he pulled Thao to his chest, holding her tightly. “I’m so sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it <3  
> -Alex and Katie


	7. Chapter 7

“I don’t get it, why won’t he wake up.” Audrey sighed hours later, staring at Minho as if it would will him to get up. They had done anything and everything they could to help, and to be honest she was amazed that he was still breathing at this point. The only thing he had to do now was wake up, and nearly everything could be okay again. 

“We’ve got to give him time Audrey.” Clint said quietly from where he was watching over Nick. 

“We don't have time, look at what this is doing to Thao and Newt. I don’t want to watch them suffer like this, not knowing if either one will make it!” She cried, getting upset now. She’d been holding it back since Thao first showed up, trying to focus on what to do next but now it was just waiting. And waiting sucked. She’d gotten Newt and Thao to go rest once she assured them she would get them the second anything happened, but she doubted that would last much longer, especially since Thao didn’t exactly leaving willingly. 

As if on cue, the pair walked through the tent, dark circles under their eyes. “You didn’t get any sleep, did you?” She asked, peering between the pair. They were still covered in blood, and Audrey realised some of it might be their own. “Lay down.” She commanded, pointing to the two vacant beds next to Minho.

“I’m fine.” Newt insisted, not even trying to hide that fact he could barely stand on his leg. 

“Newt-”

“I hate this shuck leg!” He snapped, collapsing on the bed next to Minho, and covering his face. “I can’t believe I shucking did that.”

Thao quietly crossed the room and grabbed two wet clothes from the sink. She tossed one to Newt, and then sat down on the other bed beside Minho. She began to scrub the blood and dirt off. Audrey could see a few long cuts on her arms that were definitely going to scar. Thao lifted her shirt to reveal three long gashes across her stomach and rib cage. They looked painful.

“Let me he-”

“I can- just- his leg, please.” Thao protested, wincing every time the cloth touched her skin.

Audrey turned back to Newt, carefully looking over every bit of him to make sure he wasn’t hurt anywhere else, before gently taking the cloth from him and helping him clean up. “Where’s it hurt the worst now? She asked a few minutes later, gently rolling up his pants again. 

“The whole bloody thing.” Newt winced, uncovering his face to look at her. “But I’m fine, no one here should be worrying about me at all. We’ve got enough to worry about, and more than enough to focus on.” 

“Okay, but I’m still treating your leg.” Audrey told him, taking the cloth she had and walking over to a bucket of water they had and rinsing out all the blood and dirt before coming back and placing it over his leg as gently as she could. 

Newt hissed and sat up, before letting out a small breathe. “Thanks love.” He mumbled, the aching of his leg starting to slowly fade. 

“Okay, Thao you need help too. Clint, Jeff, bring out some bandages and come help me out. Four patients and just me isn't going to work.” She called, before turning to Newt and lightly pushing him to lay back down. “Try to sleep, please.” She whispered, before getting up and moving onto Thao and her injuries. 

“I’m fine shuck faces.” Thao mumbled as they all walked over to her. Nick started to scream again, making Audrey’s heart skip a beat. “Seriously, go shut the kid up or something.” Thao snapped, nodding her head in Nick’s direction. Audrey obeyed, scared that Thao might leave if anything set her off. 

Ben came in about an hour later. He had a long cut down his face that Audrey had sewn earlier. He sat beside Thao, wincing every time Nick screamed. “Talked to Alby, he told us to take a few days off. I think it’s for the best.” Nick’s screams were getting louder, and although none of the rest of them seemed horribly affected by them, Audrey was in a panick. 

They were worse that the first time she had heard the grievers. The was his body convulsed, made her sick. The others seemed sad about it, but none of them seemed to be as terrified as they should have been.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” She asked,sitting on the edge of Newt’s bed.

“The screaming will stop once he passes out, but for now we just have to deal with it. We gave him the Grief Serum, that's all there is to do.” Jeff answered, cleaning up some of the equipment they had used earlier. 

“How many times have you all seen this?” She asked quietly, looking around the room. 

“Enough to know that it's going to get worse before it shows any signs of getting better.” Someone had answered, but Audrey’s attention was dragged back to Nick as he screamed on and thrashed around. 

“This is awful.” She mumbled, looking away and focusing her attention on Newt. Almost immediately as she did, he reached his hand out and wrapped it around hers. “I wish there was something more we could do…. for all five of you.” 

“You did everything you could, and you did a good job of it given the circumstances we’re in.” Newt said, giving her a small smile. “Whatever happens, you remember that.” Audrey smiled back and squeezed his hand, before sighing and finally starting to let herself process everything that's happened. She’d been forcing out any and all emotions she had about what was happening all day, and hadn't allowed herself to stop moving long enough to take a break and think about the situation has a whole. Instead she had been focusing on the billions of tasks before her, and putting all her energy into that. 

A single loud cough sounded throughout the room. In seconds Thao was at Minho’s side, leaning over him. He coughed, again, this time it sounded strangled. Thao rolled him onto his side, not so gently, just as he threw up all over the floor. “Gross.” Newt laughed, sitting up on his elbows. 

Thao rolled Minho onto his back again. “Min,” She whispered softly, grabbing his hand with hers. “Wake up. It’s okay.” The group waited in silence, but he didn’t wake up that night. Or the next day. Or even the next. It was well into the night on the fourth day, when they had any sign of consciousness from Minho. 

Audrey had been at his bedside, changing the thick bandages wrapped around his skull. Nick had stopped screaming hours ago, but shook with pain, slipping in and out of consciousness. Newt and Thao were both sound asleep. Newt was still on bed rest, his leg more damaged than they thought. Thao had been out in the maze with Ben that day. They’d come in with seconds to spare, once again, and Alby was furious.

Thao had ignored him, and walked to Minho’s bedside, sitting in a chair, grasping his hand, and falling asleep within seconds.

Audrey smiled a little at the sight, almost wishing she could just go curl up in one of the extra beds and sleep, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to. Until Minho woke up, Audrey knew she wasn’t going to get much sleep. She wanted to make sure his vital signs were good every half an hour or so, and had decided it was a good idea to change the bandages twice a day at least. 

There wasn’t a chance in hell that she would let him start slipping away from them without doing everything she could, even if it meant losing hours of sleep. She would sleep for two days after he woke up, she couldn’t afford to sleep like that now. 

Once she had finished with the bandages, she double checked his breathing and heart rate were both steady, which they were. Sighing, she stood up to dispose of the old bandages when   
she saw it. 

At first she thought maybe she’d just imagined it because she was overly tired, but then it happened again. The fingers of the hand Thao wasn’t holding were moving. “Thao! Newt!” Audrey nearly yelled, gently moving to shake the girl awake before turning around and shaking Newt as well. “Guys, look!” 

Minho’s whole hand started to move, each finger individually, and then his wrist, like it was spreading through his body. Newt jumped off his bed, and came to stand at Minho’s side, placing one hand on the side of his face, and the other on the shoulder of the arm Minho was moving. 

He groaned. Thao smiled, laughing lightly. Minho turned his head in her direction, groaning again. “Slinthead.” Thao muttered, letting go of his had. 

“Sh-shuckface.” He managed, lips barely moving. Newt breathed a sigh of relief and let his head fall on Minho’s shoulder. Audrey smiled at the group. She was overjoyed at the prospect of Minho waking up, but she was equally as ecstatic that Newt would possibly stop pouting, and not have permanent wrinkles on his face.

“Oh thank god.” She whispered, before she started thinking about what Minho would need now that he’s awake. “Water, uhm he needs a glass of water.” She said, the words blurting out of her mouth as she quickly ran around to get him one. Once she had filled the bottle to the top, she brought it back and handed it to Thao, deciding if anyone was going to convince Minho to do anything right now it was not going to be herself, but most definitely Thao. “Get him to drink as much of that as possible.” She told her, before scurrying off to find some sort of painkiller, deciding the trio should have a few minutes alone. 

When she returned, she immediately felt a strong pair of arms around her. She breathed in Newt’s scent and laughed out of pure happiness. “He’s okay.” He informed her, still squeezing tightly. 

“You should be laying down.” She argued weakly, knowing it was no use. 

“You need to sleep.” He finally pulled away, brushing her hair with his fingers absentmindedly. “You could always sleep in that bed.” He suggested, pointing at the bed he’d been confined to for the past four days. 

“Oh, and where are you going to sleep?” She countered, smiling up at the brown-eyed boy.

“With you.” He said, a small smile playing on his lips. She didn’t answer, only sent a small, shy smile in return, before walking back to Minho.

“How are we feeling?” She asked, smiling at both Thao and Minho as she made her way to the side Thao wasn’t on, checking his heart rate as she waited for an answer.

“Like I got the klunk beat out of me.” Minho mumbled, looking over at her. She laughed a little and set his arm back down a few seconds later. 

“Sounds about how you should feel, considering your injuries.” She stated, looking over to see how much water he had. “But if you keep drinking, no matter how much you have to pee afterwards, I think we can get you back up on your feet within the next week or so.” 

“Good that.” He nodded his head a bit, before wincing and lying still. 

“Okay, great. Thao, you make sure he keeps taking sips of that. If anything, and I mean anything changes, you wake me up and get Clint and Jeff. Newt, please get back in bed and off your leg before I kill you. And Minho, you keep doing exactly what you're doing.” Audrey smiled, before adding. “I’m going to go tell Clint and Jeff what I told you, and when I get back, Newt   
please be in bed.” 

“Are you going to join me?” He asked completely serious.

“Newt.” She looked at him for a long minute. She rolled her eyes, and left the room without another word.

Newt’s heart was beating fast. Too far. He thought to himself, limping over to the bed. He was pretty sure he’d broken it again, but he wasn’t going to admit to that. “I’m sorry, Minho.” He whispered.

“Hmm?” Minho turned his head to look at him, eyes almost blocked by the bandage. 

“I guess I know how it feels now. To almost lose your best friend. I’m sorry for putting you through that.”

“Newt, don’t apologise.”

“I’m so, so sorry. I’m so glad you’re okay Min.” He rubbed his palms against his forehead. Minho smiled at him, before turning back to Thao. “Hey, shank.”

“Hey, I’m not going to make ya drink so much water, you wet the bed, don’t worry.” She laughed, setting down the cup Audrey had handed her. 

“Good that.” He chuckled, closing his eyes. “I’m exhausted, good night.”

A few minutes later, Audrey finally returned. After she had told Clint and Jeff, they made her go inform Alby and Gally. But now she was finally back, and more than ready to get a few hours of sleep. As she entered the room, she saw that both Minho and Thao were already back to being asleep again, making her smile at the sight of them. Thao had moved her chair out of the way, and slid her bed up against his. 

“Auds?” Newt mumbled, opening his eyes and sitting up on his elbows when he heard her. 

“Yeah, its me.” She smiled, walking over and sitting on the side of his bed that his good leg was on. 

“What took you so long? I thought Clint and Jeff were in the other room.” He pointed out, looking right at her. 

“They made me go tell Alby and Gally.” She whispered, gently pushing Newt back down as she kicked off her shoes. “And they wanted all the details.” 

“Okay, and what are you doing?” Newt smiled, watching as she tied her hair up with a small scrap of cloth. 

“Getting ready to sleep, what’s it look like.” She shot back, laughing a few seconds later. Then she readjusted her position, before laying down with her head pressed against his chest. “But I want answers in the morning. All the ones you owe me.” She whispered again, before closing her eyes. 

Audrey slept until dinner the next day. She was sure Newt didn’t mind, as he was bed ridden either way. She woke to the sound of laughter, and explicit name calling. She opened her eyes to find Minho sitting up, laughing at something Newt had just told him. She moved, sitting up rather quickly, realising they’d both been watching her sleep all day. 

“Is Thao out in the maze?” She asked, not caring that she most definitely interrupted their conversation. 

“Obviously. Good Morning, by the way, shuckface.” Minho smiled, stretching in his bed.

“I think it’s actually afternoon.” Newt argued, pulling her back down so she was laying beside him. 

Jeff walked in, at that moment, carrying their dinners. “Look at that, it’s actually night. Who knew?” Minho laughed, gratefully taking his plate. 

“I slept all day?” Audrey groaned, looking over at Jeff. “Why’d you let me do that?” 

“Hey, don’t look at me. Everytime I tried, this guy here protested. And our patients wishes come first.” He laughed, pointing to Newt. 

“Okay fine, why did you let me sleep all day?” She asked Newt as he got his plate from Jeff. 

“You needed it, you hadn’t slept properly since Minho got hurt. I was being nice.” He grinned, happily accepting his plate and shoving a piece of chicken in his mouth. “Besides, you looked peaceful, and I didn’t want to ruin that.” 

“Okay fine, solid argument.” Audrey mumbled, before looking back at Jeff. “So hows Nick doing? Anything new I missed?” She asked, thanking him for her plate and resisting the huge to stuff it all in her face as she waited for his answer. 

“He hasn’t screamed since Minho woke up. Thao should be back within the hour.” Newt told her, sitting up. “Once she gets back,” his voice dropped so that he was speaking only to her. “If my doctor permits me to, I’d like to leave for a while. I can answer all those questions you wanted answers to.” 

“I think your doctor says that’s a fine idea.” She laughed, grabbing a bite of food off his plate. “Minho, how are you?”

“I feel like I got thrown by a griever and split my skull open, nearly dying in the process.” He stated, shoveling food into his mouth. 

“Hey guys, got back early.” Thao panted as she ran through the doorway. She lay down on the bed she had claimed as her own, after stealing a slice of bread from Minho’s plate. 

“Thao! Why didn’t you get them to wake me up before you left?” Audrey asked, sitting up and finally starting to eat the food in front of her. “I just woke up a few minutes ago.” She stated, unsure if she was okay with that or not. 

“I was suppose to wake you?” 

“Ye- technically no, but still. Sleeping all day probably means Alby isn’t going to be happy with me.” Audrey sighed, finishing off her food rather quickly. 

“You were keeping your patients happy, so technically you were doing your job.” Thao smiled, wiggling her eyebrows at Audrey. 

“I was sleeping!” Audrey protested, while Minho and Thao laughed. 

“Yeah, but you should have seen the grin on Newties face this morning.” They laughed, and Newt’s cheeks turned a light pink. “It was so cute.” 

“Alright, but that's one patient out of three. So I didn’t do my job.” 

“I was happy, you were keeping Newt company and we got to talk about you all day without you knowing.” Minho grinned. 

“I really hope your joking.” Audrey shook her head, getting up when she was done with her plate. “Please tell me he’s joking.” She turned to Newt, taking his plate as well and setting them aside and moving to examine his leg before she took him on a walk. 

“What else do we have to talk about?” Newt answered with a shrug. 

“Aww, they are just so cute.” Thao squealed, laughing with Minho.

“I know they are totally, in love!” Minho squealed back. Idiots. Audrey thoughts, shaking her head. 

“I’m just going to go get you some crutches.” She informed Newt, dashing into the supply cupboard and grabbing the crutches. 

“I missed these things.” Newt laughed, as he took them from her and rose to his feet.

“Where are you two off to?” Thao asked, smirking at them with her arms crossed.

“I think they’re going to go have sex.” Minho declared, mimicking the expression on Thao’s face.

“Oooh, use protection you two.” Thao suggested as they left the room. 

“Bloody shanks.” Newt laughed, as they made their way towards the trees. “So, what are these mysterious questions?” 

“All the ones you’ve been avoiding since I came up in the box from hell.” Audrey said, biting her lip nervously. “Here, lets sit down. The last thing we need is for you to hurt that leg anymore.” She gestured to a certain spot, and waited to help him sit down. “You okay?” 

“Yeah, it doesn’t even hurt that bad anymore.” He lied, quite obviously. “Carry on with the questions, I’m listening.” 

“Before I ask them, you know that if you don’t want to answer any, this isn’t me making you right? I mean, yeah I want to know… but I’d much rather hear it when you are willing to tell me.” Audrey starts, before taking a deep breath. “ The first one is probably the least awkward of me to ask, and definitely the least personal. At least I think so anyways... “ She rambled a little, before shaking her head. “I want to know what you were going to say the day Chuck came up, about why it was such a problem for me to talk to Alby.” 

“He... “ Newt started, before clearing his throat. “Look, Alby is one of my closest friends next to you, Minho and Thao. And I love him, but he isn’t always the best with people telling him how to run his Glade. Not to mention he was also telling me after your first day about how hot he thinks you are and a bunch of other stuff I’d rather not repeat..” 

“Alby.. what?” 

“No interruptions, or I won’t finish.” Newt smiled, shaking his head as Audrey nodded. “And by this point, I’d started to like you, and I just got jealous and angry that you’d gone to him instead. And that you were telling him to change the way things are. He’s a stubborn guy who doesn’t take orders as well as he gives them. I was worried you’d do it again and he wouldn’t react quite as nice.” 

“Oooh you like me?” She joked, pushing his shoulder lightly.

“If it wasn’t obvious, yeah.” He gave her a huge grin, and kissed her cheek. “Next question?”

“You seriously don’t have to answer this question if you don’t want to.” She reassured. They both knew what the question was, Audrey could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.  
“What happened to your leg?” She held her breath.

“I- I really like you,” He started, staring at his hands. “But, I’m scared. I don’t want you to think any less of me. Like, I’m supposed to be the big strong guy, with the foreign accent, that every girl falls in love with, but I’m not.” He took a deep breath, biting his lip.

“Being here sucks. You know it, and I know it. Runners have it bad. They go out everyday, and people expect them to find an exit. There is no exit. It’s a heavy load. Jen- the girl- she had died from the griever sting. We weren’t finding a way out. I hated this place. I hated myself, Audrey.

“So I went off by myself. Minho said it was fine, he needed to train Ben anyway. So I found this wall, that had the vines going halfway up.” He took a deep, shuddering breath, his eyes closed tightly. “I climbed it, and then jumped. Alby found me just before it closed. I was out for the next week.” 

Audrey didn't say anything right away, but she moved closer and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She stayed like this for a few minutes, trying to find the right words to say in response, but all she could think was “I’m really glad that you are still here.” as a whisper, resting her head on his shoulder. “Because I dunno what I’d do if you weren’t. And you don't need to be the big strong guy with the foreign accents that every girl falls in love with. I’m happy with you just being you. The grumpy, adorable boy who has more sass than anyone else here and   
the accent that kinda scared me when I first got here. That’s who I like, shucked up leg and all.” 

“You always manage to surprise me.” Newt mumbled, his fingers playing with her hair. “I thought you’d be crying and apologizing to be honest.” 

“I could easily start crying if you need me to” She said, looking over at him with watery eyes anyways. “But I figured it would be more supportive if I just sat here with you.” 

“Do you have any more questions? Because moving on from this would be good.” 

“What happens if I kind of break rule number four?” She asks, waiting for his reaction to it. 

“If you… Rule number four was don’t fall for a runner. How exactly did you break that one?” Newt said, confusion and sadness taking over his features. 

“Well, see I think I’m falling for an ex-runner, which is still technically falling for a runner… so what happens to someone who kinda breaks rule number four?” She asked again, grinning as she waited for his reaction now. 

“You have to deal with their hard-ass, sassy, shuckface comments.” He laughed cocking his head to the side. “You have to deal with them breaking down at four in the morning, memories of their friends being ripped to shreds in the maze haunting their dreams.” He wasn’t smiling as much anymore. “You have to deal with their crazy thoughts, that lead them to do bad things. But worst of all,” He sighed, and Audrey suddenly realised how close they were. “You have to deal with an unexplainable amount of these.” 

And then he was kissing her. It was a slow, nervous kiss, filled with too many emotions. It was blissful, Audrey decided, kissing him back a little rougher than intended. It lasted for about five minutes before Audrey remembered she needed to breathe.

“I think I can deal with all of those.” She smiled, going back to cuddling against him. “We should head back soon though, I can’t have you off bed rest too long. If Jeff or Clint notices that you're gone, we could get in lots of trouble.” 

“Do we have to?” Newt whined, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “You know once we get back there Minho and Thao are going to ask about a million questions.” 

“Yeah, but I happen to know that the day you two fought that they were doing something very similar to what we just did. Or at least it sounded that way. So I’m willing to bet that they are doing it again when we get back.. if we’re quiet about it.”

“Are you suggesting that we use their feelings for each other to make em slim it about ours?” Newt asked, a smirk on his face. 

“I believe that’s exactly what I’m suggesting.” Audrey laughed, before moving to get up and help Newt to his feet.

The pair walked back, as quietly as they could. The paused outside the window, and peered in. To their demise, they found the pair sitting on opposite beds laughing about something. “We should be pretending to be making out when they get here.” Minho suggested, making them both laugh harder. 

“Gross, no, how do you even pretend to make out? I think we’d actually have to be making out.” Thao laughed in response. 

“You know you want it.” Minho winked. The pair were almost in stitches by the time Newt led Audrey back inside.

“What are you shanks laughing at?” Newt asked as they entered the room.

“You-you two.” Minho gasped, holding his stomach.

“And what-what you two were doing out there.” Thao added, tears welling in her eyes.

“Did you make out?” Minho asked,suddenly very serious. Thao also stopped laughing. Audrey got a great idea and looked at Newt, hoping he’d play along with her as she started crying, dramatically grabbing her stomach.   
“O-oh my god, can’t I just talk to Newt about how I’m three and a half weeks late without you two making fun of us? I just wanted to tell him in private first, and we came back to tell you and that's how you react?” The tears she had to force not to fall earlier really come in handy now, soaking her face and making the whole crying part more realistic, if nothing else. “You’re both going to be the worst aunt and uncle in the world. See I told you Newt!” She turned to face him and smiled, before burying her face against his chest. 

“Look what you shanks did now.” Newt said, wrapping his arms around Audrey and glaring at the other two. “What do you have to say for yourselves?” 

“Yeah, and Minho and I are actually lemurs.” Thao laughed, a confused look spreading across her face. “I don’t think I remember what a lemur is.” They all broke out laughing now.

“Yeah,” Newt gasped through his laughter. “We made out.” He pulled Audrey closer and kissed her temple.

“Ew.”

“That’s gross.” The other two supplied, and Audrey supposed that was the best they were going to get.

“What did you two do while we were gone?”

“Had sex.” They both answered with a shrug. 

“Now who’s the pregnant one?” Audrey asked, grinning wildly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave a comment!  
> -Alex and Katie


	8. Chapter 8

The next few days passed by at a regular speed, Newt and Minho still staying in the Med-Jack area until Audrey and they others cleared them to go. It was getting close though, and Minho could actually stand now without feeling really dizzy a few seconds later. And Newt was allowed to roam around on crunches for an hour or two a day, but Audrey preferred that he stay off his leg until it had a chance to try and re-heal again. 

“Nuuuuurse, my roommate is driving me bloody insane!” Newt called, summoning Audrey from the other room while Minho started laughing. 

“Oh my god, both of you shut it. I have serious work to do, not take care of you two all day.” Audrey shook her head, quickly moving to refill both boy’s water bottles and hand them back again. “Can’t you be the cute kind of best friends, that love each other and are super nice?” 

“No, ew. We aren’t dating.” 

“Pass, have ya met this shank?” 

“How long til Thao gets back? I don’t know if I can handle you two much longer.”

“But- but Auds, I thought we had something.” Minho pouted, using his best Newt impression.

“I don’t sound like that.” Newt argued, crossing his arms.

“Yes ya do, shuckface.”

“No,I don’t. Oh my god Minho.” Audrey left the room, tired of dealing with either of them. She rubbed at her eyes, thoroughly exhausted. They had buried Nick last night. She was sure that was why the boys were acting out, so she didn’t press the issue to much. She hadn’t been able to sleep at all either, constantly going over everything they had done once Nick arrived. She was sure that he was going to make it, he had gotten the Grief Serum before things got too out of hand, so it couldn’t have been that. It was driving her crazy, not being able to understand what happened. And yet again the group had to deal with something that was less than acceptable. 

“Audrey, come back!” Newt called a few minutes later, and she sighed before re-entering the room. 

“What now?” She asked, looking between both boys. They were being oddly quiet now, and something didn’t feel right. “What do you need?” 

“You to take a break, you’re working yourself way too much. And your patients need attention.” Newt smiled, patting the spot beside him. 

“No, you need my attention. Honestly, it’s like i’m dating a three year old.” She sighed, rubbing her eyes, and sitting down beside Newt. “Five minutes.” She whispered, shutting her eyes and immediately falling asleep. 

\--------

“Keep it down, slinthead. They’re going to wake up.” Audrey heard the whisper come from behind her, where Minho was laying. 

“So?” It was Thao’s voice this time. Audrey glanced up at Newt, who had a small smirk on his face. She traced her finger up and down his chest, letting him know she was awake as well.

“They’ll ask questions. They always ask questions.”

“That’s true. Audrey thinks we’re together.” Thao laughed quietly. Newt opened his eyes ever-so-slightly, to peer at the pair. Minho was laying on his back, looking down at Thao, who was laying on him. 

“She does? Why?” Audrey almost laughed at this, and Newt shut his eyes rather quickly. 

“Gee, I don’t know Minho, maybe because we’re constantly flirting around them. The fact we make out three times a week doesn’t help either.”

“Yeah, but they don’t know that. And we aren’t together, I kiss Newt more than I kiss you anyways.” 

“That’s different, they don’t see it the same way, and neither do you.” Thao argued, making a very good point. 

“Whatever, we aren’t together. You know it and I know it. That’s what’s important.” Minho concluded.

“Night shuckface.” Thao whispered, audibly getting off Minho.

“Hey,” Minho said, and Newt opened his eyes to see Minho pull her back, their faces way too close. Newt quickly shut his eyes, panicked. “Goodnight slinthead.” Minho whispered.

\---------------

Another few days passed and Newt and Minho were finally cleared to get off bed rest, making Audrey very happy to get the Med-Jack tent cleared out again. She didn’t think she’d be making anymore wishes about people coming in anytime soon, especially if it was going to be Newt or Minho again. She wasn’t sure how much more bickering she could have taken.

“I say we celebrate our release tonight after Thao and you get back.” Newt suggested as the group stood near the doors, sending the runners off. 

“Good that, I haven’t had Gally’s awful juice in weeks.” 

“I’m not too sure that drinking Gally’s juice would be a good idea after you just recov-” Audrey started, before Newt shook his head and covered her mouth. 

“It’ll be fine, Gally’s juice never hurt anyone before. And stop treating us, you have the next two days off.” He mumbled, dropping his hand and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. 

“Yeah, I don’t have to listen to another word you say about my health.” Minho smiled, before preparing to head off. “We’ll see you guys later then.” 

“Bye Newt, Bye Audrey.” Thao smiled, before taking off with Minho following behind her. 

“You didn’t really just shut me up when I was voicing concern for Minho right?” Audrey said as soon as the pair had rounded the corner, turning to glare at Newt. 

“He didn’t want to hear it. You’re not his mom.” Newt told her, limping towards Alby.

“You should go get some rest or something.” He called back over his shoulder. 

“Excuse me?” She whispered, before heading off in the other direction. She went back to the Med-Jack tent, not wanting to sleep anymore. “Go get some sleep Audrey. You don’t need to work Audrey. I can tell you want to do Audrey.” She mumbled to herself as she began to cleanup the beds that the boys had finally vacated. 

She spent the next two hours cleaning, and reorganizing. “I never want people in here for that long, ever, ever again.” She complained to Jeff, as he helped her place some extra bandages on the top shelf. 

“Yeah, they were really starting to get on my nerves.” He confessed, taking some bandages from her.

“Tell me about it.” She groaned, trying not to think about what another day with the two in the tent would have been like. “I’m surprised they didn’t rip each other’s heads off.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t rep their heads off.” Jeff told her, taking the final pile of bandages from her. 

“I was seriously considering it. I mean, they're my friends and I love them but god I’m so glad that they are finally gone. Spending pretty much every second of the past few days with them was driving me crazy.” She shook her head before looking around, “Is there anything else I can do today? It’s technically my day off but I can’t just do nothing... “ 

“You could grab us some lunch, if that's not asking too much. Clint and I still have to write up the records of the past few weeks. We figured it would be a good idea to keep a list of who comes in with what injuries and how to treat it.” 

“That’s an awesome idea! I’ll be back with lunch in a few.” She smiled, waving as she left the tent and headed over to the kitchen to see Frypan. 

“Hey, I’m grabbing lunch for Jeff and Clint too. So three plates of whatever you cooked up today.” She smiled at him, leaning against the counter as she waited. 

“It’ll be just a few minutes, not quite ready yet.” Frypan smiled back, looking over his shoulder at her from where he was still cooking. 

“No problem, the more time I kill here the better.” She smiled, secretly hoping he finished up before everyone else started to gather around for lunch, everyone including a blonde haired, brown eyed boy with an amazing british accent. 

“Hi love.” He pulled her into a side hug, kissing her temple. “Want to come for a walk with me?” He asked, whispering in her ear. 

“I would, but I told Jeff and Clint I’d grab them some lunch. I also seem to remember some blonde haired shank being rude to me this morning.”

“I was thinking I’d make it up to ya.” He whispered, his lips still against her ear. “I’ll help you bring lunch back to those two slintheads, then we can go off, sound okay?” 

She sighed, giving into him. She couldn’t stay mad at him forever. “Yeah alright, let’s get this food back then.” She suggested as Frypan finally brought out what appeared to be a stew. She thanked him with a smile before grabbing two, leaving Newt to carry hers. “What have you been up to all morning? Rounds or playing in your garden?” 

“I had a meeting with Alby to catch up on everything I missed while I was on bedrest, and then did half my rounds.” Newt explained as they walked back to the Med-Jack tent. “How was your morning?” 

“I cleaned up the room you and Minho were in and reorganized every shelf. Jeff only just got me to stop by asking me to grab them lunch. I can’t sit still Newt, it's driving me crazy.” She explained, before re-entering the tent with him following behind her. “Jeff, Clint. Stew!” She called, heading towards the back where they usually hung out. 

“Yes! Thanks Audrey, these records are a real pain in the- Hey Newt.” Jeff started, before noticing Newt was following behind her. 

“Jeff. Hope you don’t mind, but I’ll be stealing Audrey for a while seeing as it’s her day off.” Newt smiled at the other boy, moving up beside Audrey and wrapping his free hand around her waist. 

“Hey, course. Thanks for lunch Audrey, Clint and I owe you.” Jeff nodded, taking the soups from Audrey and saying goodbye before scurrying back to the other room. 

“Where are we headed?” She asked, following the brown-eyed boy.

“The maze.” He laughed. “I’m kidding, let’s go to the trees, there’s a nice secluded area in there.”

“Okay, sounds great.” She said, catching up to him. He reached out and interlocked her fingers with his. For some reason, her heart started to beat faster. It wasn’t like they had never held hands before. This felt different though, it felt secretive, and exciting. A boy pulling her into the forest in broad daylight. Her boy. It was exhilarating. 

They reached the clearing, which had a few logs laid out around the edges. “This is a really nice place.” She commented. Newt let go of her hand, making the warmth leave her body. He lay down on the grass, in the very center of the clearing, patting the space beside him. 

She lay down, and he quickly leaned over top of her. “Hi” she whispered.

“Hey beautiful.”

“Did you bring me out here just to make out? Because you know I totally wouldn’t mind that, but if you haven’t finished your rounds and Alby finds out that you're here with me instead, he’s going to be furious. I don’t want to be a distraction from your job.” She suddenly panicked, thinking about being caught or getting Newt in trouble. 

“Relax, I can finish my rounds later. Besides, it’s my lunch break so Alby can’t be mad that I want to spend it all with you.” Newt smiled, shaking his head at her. “You really have to stop overthinking everything.” 

“I’m not sure how to do that, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m literally always overthinking. I have no control over it at all.” It was her turn to shake her head, letting out a small sigh. “I don’t think relaxing is something I’m capable of while I’m awake.” 

“I figured as much.” He let out a quiet laugh before pressing his lips to hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and Kudos? Love you all!  
> -Alex and Katie


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've decided to give you guys a Christmas gift! For the next week, you guys get a new chapter every day!  
> Happy Holidays!  
> -Alex and Katie

It was nearly dinner time. Audrey washed her hands and made her way over to the tables. She smiled, thinking about her rendezvous with Newt earlier that day. They had been late coming back, but no one seem to question her about it. Newt on the other hand, probably got told off by Alby. He wouldn’t have cared though, it was worth it. 

She felt a body slide onto the bench beside her, a mop of blonde hair falling onto her shoulder. “Alby is such a shucking idoit. He won’t stop teasing me about it.” He mumbled into her shoulder, eyes closed. 

“Better he teases you about it then punishes you.” She smiled, leaning her head on top of his gently. “How was your afternoon?” 

“Boring. I finished my rounds and had another meeting with Alby about Chuck. He’s a slopper right now, but he seems to be failing at even the easiest of tasks. I had to try and teach him the whole rest of the day.” Newt groaned, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer. “He still isn’t really getting it though.” 

“Maybe he’s still scared, he’s only been here two and a half weeks. The griever still scares the crap out of me at night. And I’m pretty sure that you, Minho and Thao aren’t as use to them as you’d like me to think you are. Give him a bit, he’s young, confused and scared.” 

“You’re always so bloody nice to everyone.” Newt huffed, obviously not totally agreeing with her little speech. 

“I do my best.” She laughed, as frypan brought out the food. “I’ll go get us some food.”

“Thanks.” He dropped his head to the table, his hair spreading around him. Audrey quickly grabbed some food for the pair of them, and brought it back to their table. “You’re the best.” He mumbled, finally lifting his head off the table.

“How’s your leg?” Audrey asked him through a mouthful of potatoes. 

“Bloody fantastic, thanks for asking.” He shot back.

“You're really in a mood today, aren’t ya.” Audrey shook her head, gently leaning against him. “Grumpy Newt isn’t much fun, and he’s usually pretty mean. I like Happy Newt much better. Any chance of him coming back soon?” She asked quietly, hoping the answer would be yes. 

Newt sighed and ate a few potatoes before nodding his head. “Maybe, as long as I get to hang out with you and avoid Chuck for the rest of the night.” He mumbled, wrapping his arm around her and looking towards the doors. “They should be coming back any minute, especially if they want dinner.” 

A few minutes later Ben came in, and grabbed three plates of food, before disappearing out the door again. “Strange.” Audrey mumbled, trying to get up. 

“Leave it, they’re probably just working in the map room.” Newt told her, grabbing her hand and pulled her back down to the bench. “It’s not all fun and games out there.”

“Yeah, I got that far, thanks.” She laughed, not letting go of his hand. “What’s tonight’s bonfire look like?” 

“A lot of Gally’s juice, and a lot of kissing.” Newt informed her, finishing off his dinner. “C’mon, let’s go get it started.”

“Which bit? The bonfire, drinking Gally’s awful concoction, or kissing?” Audrey smiled, deciding that she’s going to try to cheer Newt up as much as possible tonight. 

“Two of the three sound less fun than the other one.” Newt shook his head, kissing her cheek before stacking up their plates and getting up, dragging her behind him. 

“Okay, I knew you liked Gally’s juice, but I definitely thought I was better at kissing then it tasted.” Audrey joked once Newt had placed the dishes at the front counter and they had made their way out to get the bonfire started. 

Newt laughed a little, causing Audrey to grin at him in return. “You’re in a good mood, considering your comment on mine.” He pointed out, gathering the nearby pieces of wood and starting to build the fire. 

“Well unlike your afternoon, I spent mine wondering around the glade and thinking about what happened at lunch time. And I just got you to laugh a bit, so I’d say my day is going pretty good.” Audrey shrugged, helping him build the fire up to its usual high flames.

“You thought about kissing me all afternoon? Creep.” Newt tried to grimace, but it came out as more of a smirk.

“You’re a creep.” She argued, watching the flames grow. “This looks pretty good, i’d say.”

“You look pretty good, i’d say.” 

“Thanks, that made me feel really good about myself Newt.” She smiled, walking over to him and kissing him lightly. “Maybe we should take some of Gally’s Juice to our friends.”

The pair grabbed three bottles and took them to the map room. The knocked on the door and let themselves in. Inside they found the three runners hunched over a table. “This doesn’t make any sense Newt, come see this.” Minho said as they entered. “See, this wall here, it has never been there before. We walked around the area, and this wall, here, was missing.”

“You reckon that’s the same wall?” Newt asked, leaning over the table.

“Yeah.”

“It’s weird though. It didn’t just rotate, it moved,like thirty feet.” Thao explained, gratefully taking a bottle of the juice from Audrey. 

“There’s no track though.” Ben added, tracing his finger over the path the wall would have taken. “It’s like it just hopped over there.”

“Yeah slinthead, when was the last time you’ve seen a wall jump?” Minho shot back, examining the walls around it. “Maybe all of these ones shifted, so that it looked like this one moved all the way.” He suggested, pointing to the walls between when it would have started and where it was today.

“Or maybe you just forgot it was there?” Audrey suggested, earning a glare from all four of them. “Or not, only a suggestion!” 

“Maybe we should leave the mapping to the people who’ve been out in the maze.” Newt suggested, shaking his head at the comment.

“Okay, I get it. I have literally no idea what it's like out there and i’m not helping.” Audrey shook her head. “I'll go grab some more bottles for you four, let the runners discuss whatever it is that I don't understand or can't hear.” She mumbled, kissing Newt on the cheek before grabbing the empty plates and bottles. “Be back in a few!”

She left before anyone else had a chance to say anything, quietly closing the door behind her. She knew she didn’t really know what they were talking about, and that Alby had some pretty strict rules about what the Runners could share with non-runners, but she wished she could know everything they did anyways. She quickly made her way to the kitchen, dropping of the   
dirty dishes and empty bottles before going out to the bonfire to grab some more of Gally’s Juice like she had promised. 

When she returned, her hands were too full to knock, so instead she lightly kicked at the door, hoping someone would hear it. 

“Audrey?” Newt’s voice came from inside.

“Yeah.” She opened the door, and stepped inside. 

“We’re just heading out.” MInho explained, grabbing a bottle from Audrey’s hands and chucking it to Thao. “C’mon love,” He started, doing his best Newt impression. “Let’s go dance and   
make love under the stars.” Minho grabbed Thao’s hand, and pulled her from the room, but not before grabbing his own bottle from Audrey. Ben laughed and followed the pair, grabbing a bottle on the way past.

“Guess that leaves us.” Newt observed cheerfully. “What will we do with all this alone time?”

“Walk all the way back to the bonfire, where I just came from, and grab some more drinks.” Audrey smiled, grabbing his hand and tugging him alongside her, trying not to be overly annoyed that she couldn’t have carried the right amount of bottles the first time. 

“You alright?” 

“It’s stupid, and I’ll be over it as soon as we get some of Gally’s gross shucking jucie.” She mumbled, still not use to using the word the gladers made up herself. 

“What’s stupid?” 

“My friends are all Runners, or ex-runners. So they all get to know these secrets about the maze that I don't. And I know it's for the best and that’s the rules but it's just tough when you guys are discussing it and I can’t help or even input anything useful.” She huffed, before shaking her head with a sigh. “But those are the rules, and I’m not planning on breaking any more of   
those anytime soon. Rule number four was enough for me.” 

“You aren’t missing out on any good news, don’t worry.” Newt whispered, and grabbed two bottles once they made it back to the bonfire. “If you were, I’d risk breaking a few rules.”   
Audrey quickly took her drink and opened it, taking a long sip before pulling the bottle back and coughing a bit. “Good to know. C’mon, let's dance.” 

He pulled her to the fire, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. They pair danced around the fire, slowly at first, but the second Minho and Thao joined them, that all changed. They danced for what seemed like forever. The sun disappearing, and they were left in darkness. It was nights like these that gave Audrey the hope of leaving, but also made her   
want to stay forever, and enjoy their little paradise. 

Minho and Audrey were currently lounging on the ground, staring at the bonfire, too tired to dance anymore. “I think I like this place.” She admitted, looking over at the dark haired boy.

“This good stuff, I want it forever. I want to spend my whole shuck life doing this stuff.” He raised his bottle in a toast to Newt and Thao, who were currently doing a strange waltz around the fire. 

“Newt, you’re going to make me fall in!” Thao yelped, as he swung her too close to the flames.

“What are you talking about shank? You love this.” He laughed, twirling her around again. Her face lit up with laughter, her eyes sparkling with the light from the flames. 

Audrey glanced at Minho, who was looking at Thao like she was his whole world. “You’re disgusting.” Audrey laughed, causing him to tear his eyes away.

“What?” He asked stupidly, glancing back at the waltzing pair.

“You like her.” 

“Do not.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I could go over and kiss her right now, and not feel a thing.” 

“Do it. I dare you.”

“Sorry, but your boyfriend seems to be a little too into her right now, don’t think he’d let me steal her away.” He laughed, staring at Audrey. “Y’know, I don’t think I ever properly thanked you for treating me, doc.” 

“Was that your attempt to thank me then? Because next time you might want to actually say thank you at the end of the sentence.” Audrey shook her head, before looking back at Newt and Thao. “I know by the way. You two weren’t always as quiet back in the Med-Jack tent as you thought you were. And I also know you aren’t together, I just don't understand why. But that’s your business. All I’m going to say about it, before never speaking of it again, is that you are both huge shucking idiots.” She looked back over to him and took a sip of Gally’s juice, before getting up and moving over to where Newt and Thao were before Minho had a chance to respond. 

“Audrey! I thought you were too tired?” 

“Well, some of Gally’s juice and resting for a bit did the trick. Minho wouldn’t join me though, so I came back over to you two. Hope you don’t mind my interrupting.” She laughed before glancing back to look at Minho, wanting to see if he had even had a reaction to anything she’d said. 

“Don’t mind at all, lovely.” Newt responded with a suave smile. It made Audrey’s heart melt. He pulled her close and kissed her a little more roughly than he normally would in public, but Audrey didn’t mind. His lips moved against hers and she was in heaven, nothing around her mattered. When the two finally broke apart, Audrey looked around to find Minho, or Thao, but noticed that most people, including the pair, had disappeared to homestead to sleep. She assumed that’s where the pair went anyways.

“Apparently it is bedtime.” She informed him, gesturing around the almost empty area. 

“Or make out on the grass time.” Newt countered, smirking.

“Or, I’m really tired and need to rest.” 

“Sleep in my bed tonight.” He grabbed her wrist as she started to turn away, suddenly realising how tired she was. 

“Newt, this is homestead, not the med-jack tent. There’s loads of people around.”

“Who cares? Please, it’s been so nice the last few nights.” He nearly begged, making it that much harder for Audrey to say no. “I like being able to cuddle with you, and if any of the other gladers have a problem with that then they can deal with a shuck ton of more work.” 

“Newt... “ Audrey started, planning on telling him all the reason that they shouldn’t, but as soon as she begun, she came up short. “ Okay, yeah fine. But no being mean or grumpy to anyone that teases or makes fun. Minho and Thao included.” 

“Never, let’s go.” Newt grinned, wrapping his arm around her waist as they walked back to the Homestead. 

“Oh, uhm, by the way… I might have told Minho that I heard him and Thao the other night. And I’m not really sure what his reaction to it was, or if he even had one. But if he seems to suddenly hate me or something… That would be why.” Audrey decided it was a good idea to tell Newt what she’d said, hoping he might have an idea of how the dark-haired boy had reacted. 

“But I left that part about you being awake too out, and I only told him because he was looking at her with the most affection I’ve ever seen.” 

“Sounds like him.” Newt left as they entered homestead. They made their way over to the beds they usually slept in, and found Minho and Thao’s beds empty. “Ten bucks what they’re doing.” 

“Just let them be, let’s sleep.” They climbed into bed, settling down. Barely five minutes later Audrey heard footsteps. 

“Don’t touch me.” Thao snarled. Audrey could hear the sound of shoes being thrown off, and someone sitting on a bed. “I don’t want to talk to you, or that shuckface, ever again.”

“Thao, this isn’t my fault.”

“You provoked him.” Their whispers were so loud, Audrey was sure half the people in homestead were now awake. “I can’t believe I stood up for your sorry ass.” She spit. Audrey peered at Newt, wondering if they should do something.

“Well you didn’t have to. You’ve gone and got yourself a nice black eye for it. Happy?” Audrey could hear the heavy breathing from the pair, and Newt’s quick heartbeat against her ear. “I can take care of myself.”

“Fantastic. Next time a griever starts ripping you to shreds, I won’t intervene.” Thao stomped out of homestead, and Audrey heard Minho fall onto his bed. She let a few seconds pass, before sighing and looking up at Newt. 

“I have to go see she’s okay. I’ll be right back.” She whispered quietly, surprised she was even still in the bed at this point. 

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” 

“I won’t poke around about what happened, or even give my opinion on the matter. But obviously something upsetting happened, and I can’t let her just be upset without checking on her.” She whispered back, kissing his cheek before getting up and running out after Thao, not even bothering with her shoes. 

“Thao?” She called quietly when she was out of the building, glancing around for her friend. “I know you probably don't want to talk, but I just need to know you’ll be okay.” She continued, walking straight out some more as she looked around. 

“I’m fine slinthead, go back to bed.” 

“Thao, seriously.”

“Go cuddle your boyfriend Audrey. If you see Gally, give him a black eye for me.” She laughed bitterly. “Shuck, I’m going to the map room.”

“Will do.” Audrey assured her, going back into homestead. 

“What happened?” Newt asked, sitting up on his elbows. 

“Gally.” Both her and Minho answered at once. Newt tried to rise to his feet, but Audrey pushed him back down.

“He’s taken care of.” Minho told him through gritted teeth.

“Did you kill him?” Newt asked. Audrey couldn’t tell if he was asking this from a second-in-command perspective, or a best friend one.

“Wish I had.”

“Bloody should have.”


	10. Chapter 10

A few days passed and Thao’s eye started to heal fairly well, mind you Audrey had insisted that she look at it and had tried to help as much as possible. But Thao was otherwise fine, and had been back out in the maze the next day, insuring Audrey it wasn’t a big deal. 

“Got everything?” Ben asked as the group gathered for the morning send off, Thao and Minho were running while Ben spent the day mapping. 

“Yeah, we’re good.” 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to look at your eye again before you go?” Audrey asked for the third time since Thao had woken up today. 

“Audrey, it’s fine. Healing right up.” Thao assured her, looking to Minho. “You ready, shank?” Minho nodded and the pair took off into the maze. 

“Right, so we’re going here. We’ll rest when we get there.” Minho announced pointing to a spot on the worn map. The didn’t need to carry it, but it was nice to have a backup in case they got turned around.

The pair ran in silence for nearly an hour. The blank, repetitive walls were intimidating, to say the least. The maze played tricks with your mind, it was so easy to lose yourself. Before they knew it, they had made it to the spot Minho had pointed out earlier. 

“Ready to rest, shank?” Thao asked, not waiting for an answer, but instead falling to the stone floor. “I’m starving.” 

“We’ve just eaten breakfast, you’re not getting any snacks yet.” Minho argued, sitting down by her head. “So sucks.” 

She smiled at him before pulling him down for a long, upsidedown, kiss. “Slinthead. I’m hungry.” She complained, holding her stomach, and rolling around on the floor as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.

“If you eat the snack now, you’ll complain about wanting one in the afternoon. So, did you pack extras? Oh, no you didn’t.” 

“You packed extras.” 

“Yeah, because I’m the one who gets hungry about this time everyday.” 

“You did, I know you did.” 

“My snacks are my business.” 

“But you packed extra’s, and I’m starving.” Thao argued, sitting up to look at him. “I want the extra snack.” 

“What do I get out of it?” Minho asked, reaching into the pocket where he had in fact packed an extra snack or two. 

“Do you always have to get something out of it?” 

“Not if you ever brought your own extra snacks, but you don’t. So what do I get out of it?” He smirked, holding the homemade granola bar above her head.

“Anything.” She whispered, meeting his eyes with a desperate look. Whether it was for him, or the snack, she didn’t know. 

He dropped the snack on her. She grabbed it, looking confused. “I don’t know what I want yet.” He admitted, taking a bite of the bar. His eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint, and she knew she was done for. 

“Run till lunch?” She suggested, getting to her feet and dusting herself off.

“Good that.”

By the time lunch came around, they were both starving and had nothing new to add for the map room. But they both knew they were hungry. They had stopped near a corner, and were sitting up against the vines on the walls to eat the chicken sandwiches Frypan had made for them today. 

“How much longer do you think we’ll be able to keep this up?” Thao asked, looking down at her blank notebook. “I know Alby doesn’t want to tell everyone that we’ve mapped the whole maze four times over or whatever, but eventually someone will figure it out. There isn’t a shucking way out of here. It's just a shuck ton of walls.” 

“However long we need to keep it up, because if we don’t the others will start to give up. And then who knows what people would do. We’d probably end up with a few successful Newt’s, and that's the last thing any of us want.” 

“Don’t say that.” She snapped at him.

“I’m sorry.” He looked down at his sandwich, suddenly not very hungry. “For that, and the other night.”

“Minho, I told you it-”

“I was so peeved when that kid walked in on us. I didn’t want him to say anything, especially to Alby. I wanted to scare him. I didn’t know he’d react that way and try to punch me. And I certainly didn’t know you would jump in front of his fist.”

“Thanks, for actually scaring him off like that. I think the minor argument-”

“Huge fight that broke my heart into a million peices.” 

“Yes, well I think it made a lot of the suspicion go away too. Everyone thinks we kind of hate each other. And I think Alby believes it.” She admitted, leaning her head back against the wall.

“God, if Alby knew it’d be a mess. Can you imagine? ‘Interference with work,’ ‘risk the chances of ever escaping,’ ‘gonna get yourselves killed out there, being too dependent on each other’.” Minho scoffed, glancing at the girl beside him. He shifted onto his knees, putting his sandwich on the ground and crawling over to her.

“Oh no.” She tried to shuffle out of the way, but he was too quick, and pinned her to the stone floor.

For a few seconds it seemed as if he was going to kiss her, since he leaned in closer and his lips were merely centimeters from her own but then she felt it. 

His hands had moved to her sides, and he was poking her sides while also tickling. She let out a string of uncontrollable giggles, trying to throw him off of her but he wasn’t moving. “Get off me you slinthead!” She managed through the laughter, wiggling about on the floor as she tried to make him stop. 

A few seconds later he had, but she barely had anytime to process that as he pressed his lips on hers. When he pulled away, he had a huge grin on his face. “Gotcha.” 

“Go finish your lunch, you shuckface.” Thao shook her head, smiling back up at him. “You’re interfering with my work.” 

“It’s not my fault that you're a distracting person.” Minho huffed, getting off her and going back to grab his sandwich. “You’re the one interfering with my work.” 

The finished their sandwiches, exchanged a few quick kisses, (They weren’t actually quick at all) and took off running again.

“Hey Thay?” Minho asked after about forty five minutes of running.

“Yes?”

“I hate seeing Audrey and Newt together.” He stopped running, and stared at her. “They’re so shucking cute, and I want to be that couple that everyone thinks is perfect. I want that so bad Thay.” 

“Min. Min you know-”

“We can’t be. I’m aware. I hate that Newt knows we can’t be together. I hate that he flaunts their relationship around, like he’s completely forgotten our struggle.”

“That’s not fair Min, you know that.” Thao sighed, walking up to the boy, holding his face in her hands. “He’s so happy Min. I was so scared he would try again. She makes him so happy.”

“It’s not fair.” He was pouting, tears glistening in his eyes. He looked like a pouting toddler. “I want this,” He gestured between them. “Out there. Please.” Thao’s heart shattered into a million pieces.

\-------- 

When they got back to the glade that night, something felt off. Neither one was as playful as normal, and although they were talking, it’s like they were almost trying to avoid each other. And the thing that really worried their friends, is that there hadn’t been a single tease about Newt and Audrey’s relationship. Not a single one, when so many opportunities presented themselves that Audrey even found herself making the jokes in her head. 

“What happened out there today?” She asked Thao the minute the two boys had left to get a spot at dinner, glancing at her with some concern. “Why aren’t you two making jokes or goofing off? What’s wrong?” She asked, knowing that Thao didn’t usually talk about this stuff, but it seemed like she needed it right now. “Please tell me this isn’t because of what I said to Minho the other night.” 

“What? What did you say to Minho?” Thao asked, head cocked to the side. 

“Nothing, never mind.” 

“Thao. Tell me, I know it’s eating you alive.” Audrey pushed, hoping to get to the bottom of the issue. Thao sighed in defeat.

“Minho is the toughest human in the whole world. I only know about sixty humans, but I know there aren’t any out there that could be tougher than him.” 

“You got that right.” The girls laughed. It felt more relaxed than it was.

“He cried today. And I don’t mean like a single tear ‘cause he stubbed his toe. I mean I held him as he sobbed for an hour, kind of cry.” Thao shook her head, looking down at her hands. “Newt did that once.”

“Did what?”

“Cried in my arms. A week before he- he climbed that damn wall. I’m shucking scared. Minho is desperate, he wants to get out of this maze so bad, it kills him.” She shook her head.

“That’s a lie. That’s not why he was crying.” Audrey stopped, turning to look at Thao. “We talked about it the other night at the bonfire. He said he wanted the good parts, like that night to last forever. That he would be fine staying like it forever.” She told Thao, a small smile on her face. “You might have been able to fool me with that line if we hadn’t talked, but we did.” 

“Shuck.” Thao muttered, taking a deep breath and looking back at Audrey. 

“You only have to tell me if you want to, but I promise it’s something you can trust me with. Considering you are one of my closest friends and all.” Audrey smiled at her, wanting Thao to understand she was here for whatever the problem was, anytime. 

“Don’t fall for a runner.” She whispered, laying down on the grass.

“It’s a stupid rule. You can’t help who you fall for.” Audrey sighed, laying down next to her. “One that both of you broke way before now, and I know I can’t understand what it's like. But the way you two are together, in public and alone, just shows you that just because you care about someone doesn’t mean it’s always going to be putting them at risk.” She wasn’t sure if she   
was helping or making the situation worse, so she paused there turning to look at Thao. “And whatever happened, and whatever happens next, I’m here. I dunno if that helps or not, but I’m here for whatever.” 

“Thanks.”

\--------

After dinner that night, the four decided to hang out on their own near the Deadheads and the forest, wanting to get away from everyone else and just talk amongst themselves for a bit before bed. 

“I would like to get something off my chest.” Minho announced from his place on one of the lower branches. “Audrey, I think you are a wonderful human, with a heart of gold, don’t ever change.” What? She thought, giving him an aghast look.

“Newt. Ya are a terrible human being, with no conscious, and I love you to bits.” Newt stared at him like he was completely nuts.

“What are ya buggin on about?” Newt asked, raising his eyebrows.

“And Thao,” He continued, pointedly ignoring Newt. “You are the biggest slinthead I know.”

“Wow, so nice of you Min.” Thao rolled her eyes, leaning back to stare at the boy above her.

“I’m sorry, want me to kiss it better?” He leaned forward on the branch making kissy noises. 

“Whatever tough guy.” Thao smiled up at him. “You’re still a shuckface.”

“It’s been a long day.” Newt said with a yawn, stretching so his arm fell around Audrey’s shoulders. 

“Wow, smooth.” Thao commented, stretching her legs out in front of her. “Gosh, I’m so sore. We ran a lot today.” 

“Don’t you run a lot everyday?” Audrey asked, genuinely believing that to be what they did all the time when they are out there. 

“Not always, or not as much as today. Sometimes we take breaks to map for a while, or walk through any section we think might have changed or something overnight. It depends.” 

“Sounds like hell to me. But that may just be because running isn’t exactly my favourite activity… at all.” Audrey laughed, shaking her head a bit before leaning to rest it on Newt’s shoulder. 

“What’s your favorite activity then?” 

“Sleep, obviously.” Audrey smiled, muffling a yawn of her own. “Which we all need pretty soon by the looks of it.” 

“Mine’s drinking Gally’s Juice, and dancing for hours on end with my three best friends.” Minho shared, flipping upside down on the branch, exposing his entire torso. Audrey wondered how, with bodies like these two boys had, it was possible not to fall for a runner. “Hey there.” He smiled, hanging a couple inches above Thao. Audrey would not trust anyone to hang upside down   
directly above her.

“Hello.” She smiled back, cocking her head to the side. They looked so at peace with each other, it made Audrey’s heart swell with joy.

“Whatever you do, please don’t fall off that branch. You just got out of the Med-Jack tent with a serious head injury. The last thing I want is for you to be stuck in there with another one.” Audrey mentioned, not initially planning on saying anything but she was starting to get a little worried. He’s had a lot of Gally’s juice, so that didn’t really help assure her he would be fine. 

“I’m fine.” 

“Yeah, and if he falls it's his own bloody fault and not your responsibility.” Newt laughs, obviously joking. 

“I’m not gonna fall. I might make out with Thao, but I’m not falling off this branch.” 

“What if it snaps?” Audrey pointed out, still not over that he could fall and re-hurt his head. 

“Well then it’s not my fault then, is it?” He laughed, letting his arms drop from his stomach, down to Thao’s shoulders. “I’m really drunk.” He admitted with a laugh. “I’m getting down now.”

He climbed down, and the rest of the group rose to their feet. “I’m about ready to go to sleep.” Thao told them, stifling a yawn. They rest nodded, and they started to leave the clearing, Thao and Minho in the lead. 

Audrey had been looking forward to sleep until she was roughly pushed up against a tree. “Newt wha-” His lips were on hers, and she quickly forgot all about going to sleep. When he pulled away a few minutes later, she smiled up at him. “What was that for?” 

“I just really wanted to kiss you...so I did.” He grinned, running his fingers through her hair. 

“Just out of the blue?” She laughed, moving to grab one of his hands as she started towards the Homestead again. 

“No, I wanted to for a while but you were too concerned about Minho’s safety.” 

“He could have really gotten hurt if he’d fallen.” Audrey argued, feeling the need to defend her reason for worrying. “What if he had crack his head open again, so soon after the first time?” 

“He’s fine, Love, stop worrying about it all.” 

“I’m not sure how to do that, I’m constantly worried about you three.” She admits, bringing his arm over her shoulders and dropping his hand. “Whenever all four of us are separated, all I do is worry.” 

He pulled her close to him, burying his face in her hair. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. Minho and Thao, they’re smart, real smart. The can handle themselves. You know that.” He reassured.

“I’m just scared that one day it’s going to be a group of three.” She whisper as they exited the trees. 

“It’s okay to be scared. I’m scared. Alby, Gally, they’re both scared. Thao’s scared. Minho, well Minho is shucking terrified. Remember, that if it does some day turn to be a group of three, you will have all the support you ever need and more, from the other two.” 

It made Audrey really happy to know that Newt was so accepting of these feelings of fear and loss. That the boy was able to deal with them,and show others how to cope. It must be a vast difference from how he was before he jumped. That scared her the most.

“I really like you.” She mumbled, leaning her head against his shoulder as they made their way inside. 

“I really like you too.” Newt chuckled lightly, tugging her towards their beds. “You’re sleeping with me again tonight, right?” He whispered, not really needing to ask anymore at this point. 

“Mhmm, we can take the the blanket off my other bed too, since I keep stealing all of yours.” She grinned, slipping off her shoes and kneeling down on the bed, stretching out to snatch the blanket from the bed beside her.

“Auds, c’mon. It’s kinda cold.” Newt whispered, already laying down beside her as he waited for her to curl up next to him. She lay down beside him, tucking her face into his shoulder. She gave him a few light kisses on the skin there, before closing her eyes and nuzzling closer. She soon fell into a deep sleep, Newt’s arms wrapped tightly around her. 

A few hours later, she awoke to a shift in the bed. At first she thought it was just Newt trying to reposition himself, or moving about in his sleep. She stayed as still as she could, making sure the boy fell asleep again. Then she realised his whole body was shaking slightly. She heard a sniffle, and raised her head to look at him.

His eyes were snapped shut, lip drawn into his mouth, and his cheeks were glistening in the moonlight. He was definitely crying.

“Newt?” She whispered, moving a little bit so that she could see him better. “What’s wrong?” She asked, her hand going to brush his hair gently. He opened his eyes as she did so, staring back at her. “You okay?” 

“I didn’t mean to wake you up, I’m sorry.” He whispered back, his voice sounding as if he had been crying for a while now. 

“Shh, it's fine. What happened? What's wrong?” Audrey asked, continuing to play with his hair which seemed to be helping a little bit. 

“I just had a flashback, I’m okay.” He croaked this time, obviously the opposite of okay. 

“Newt. You aren’t.” Audrey whispered back, a little hurt that he was lying to her, but she also understood that this is something he has been dealing with long before she showed up. 

“I just need a minute.” 

“What can I do to help? I want to help you.” She sighed, her fingers still wrapped up in his hair. 

“You already are by just being here.” 

“What else? Anything else you want, let's take your mind off it.” 

“Okay..” He agreed, and she brought her other hand up to his cheeks, wiping away his tears. She stayed up with him for what felt like hours, before he stopped shaking and sniffling. “After Min, and feeling all that klunk Thao described, I feel like a total slinthead for doing that to them.” He admitted, running his hand over his face. 

“Newt.” Audrey didn’t know what to say. 

“I’m such a shuckface.” 

“Newt, you’re not. You had serious depression. It led you to do those things, you never wanted to hurt your friends.” 

“But I did hurt them.” Audrey didn’t know what else to do, so she kissed him, trying to get his mind off this. She ran her hand up his bare chest, distracting him. She heard a small gasp escape his lips, so she figured it was working. “Auds.”

“What Newt, what do you want?” She whispered against his lips. He didn’t answer her right away though, and just tangled his hands up in her hair before kissing her again. 

“Thank you.” He mumbled when he pulled back, giving her a small smile. She smiled back and moved back to rest her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him. 

“Try to go back to sleep now okay? I’m right here.” She whispered, snuggling into him. 

“Night love.” He whispered back, his hands still brushing through her hair as he kissed the top of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love you guys <3


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter: Thomas. Let's get this plot rolling!

The next several days passed over quickly, and before the Gladers knew it, a month had passed, which meant a new greenie today. Audrey wasn’t quite as excited this time, not after seeing Chuck show up in the box and look as terrified as he did. 

“What happens if one day the box just stops sending people up? What are we supposed to do then?” Audrey wondered out loud at Dinner, knowing everyone else had probably already thought about this once or twice before. 

“We ration everything enough that if the box ever stopped we could survive for ourselves. The last thing we want is to rely on something that might never show up again.” Newt answered, shrugging his shoulders and continuing to eat the chicken leg in his hands. “Nothing to worry about.” 

“That’s smart. Who was the brains of that operation?” She asked.

“You’re looking at him.” Newt smiled proudly. Audrey smiled back, pressing a small kiss to his lips. Of course it was him. 

Thao and Minho ran in just then, calling Audrey’s name. She looked up to see Ben hanging between the pair, shaking and sweating. He looked like he’d be stung. “Shuck.” She swore. Newt and Audrey jumped to their feet running over to the trio. Together they brought Ben to the Med-jack tent, and dumped him on a bed. 

“What happened?” Newt asked, looking wild. “What’s going on out there? This is the second griever attack this month.” He looked furious, and for a moment, Audrey thought he might hit Minho again. “You guys can’t keep doing this to me.” He whispered, pulling the other two runners into a hug. 

“Sorry Newt. The shuckin’ griever jumped us.” Thao explained, running a shaking hand through her hair. “It came from above. We barely made it out alive.” She tucked herself under Minho’s arm, breathing heavily. 

“Why don’t you guys give him some space.” Audrey suggested, waiting for Jeff to bring her some of the Grief Serum. “The new greenie isn’t up yet, you guys can actually see one arrive if you hurry.” 

“Seriously. Shucking finally. At least one good thing happened today.” Minho groaned as they said goodbye to the Med-Jacks and made their way to the box. They were about halfway there when the bell started. “Boy or girl? I hope girl.”

“Boy.”

“Girl.”

They reached the box just as the top opened. Alby was already hopping in when they got there, pulling the new greenie out. 

“Nice to meet ya, shank” Alby started, patting the boy on the back. “Welcome to the Glade.” 

The trio watched as the boy looked around, first at all of them and then around at the walls, rotating in a small circle to take it all in. 

“Look at the Greenbean.” Gally laughed from the group’s left. “Gonna break his neck checkin’ out the new digs.” 

“Shut your hole, Gally.” Alby instructed, and Thao had to hold back a snort. Serves him right for being an ass all the time. 

“Where am I?” The new boy asked, and Alby moved closer to him in attempts to get everyone else to back off. 

“It’s a long story, shank.” Alby started, before looking at Newt and asking him over. “Piece by piece, you’ll learn- I’ll be takin you on the Tour tomorrow. Til then… just don't break anything.” He informed him, sticking out his hand. “Name’s Alby.” 

Alby and Newt followed the new boy over to the nearby trees where the boy asked plenty of questions. After a few minutes, Ben’s screams tore through the Glade, making them all shudder. Newt took off towards the tent, a worried look on his face. 

The greenie walked over to Chuck, and the pair began talking. “Well, I’m going to go to the map room and try to drown myself.” Thao declared, turning away from the greenie. 

“Same here.” Minho laughed. Thao glanced over her shoulder once more at the greenie. He was pretty attractive. And fit. Minho coughed loudly, drawing her attention back to him. “He’s a greenie.”

“A hot greenie.”

“I really am going to drown myself.” Minho shook his head, opening the door to the map room. “How are we going to do this with only two people.”

“Well keeper, i’m sure we can do it.” Thao rubbed his shoulders once they had reached the table. 

“There’s no place for an exit. And i’m sick of telling people that we’re going to find a way out.” Minho sighed, dropping his head forward, leaning on the table for support. Thao put her hand   
on their miniature replica of the cliff. 

“That’s an exit.” She told him.

“One that’ll get your shuck-face killed.” 

“But what if that’s the only way out.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

\-----------

“What’s wrong?” Newt asked as soon as he got to Audrey and Ben, glancing between them both. 

“We gave him the serum, I dunno what else to do.” Audrey sighed, looking down at Ben with a worried expression. “I tried cooling him down with a cool cloth on his forehead, but he just thrashed around too much. I can’t help him anymore.” She told Newt as Ben continued to scream, squirming around uncomfortably on his bed. 

“What’s with all the noise?” Alby asked a few seconds later, walking in behind Newt and looking at Ben. 

“What did you do with the Greenbean?” Audrey asked, looking at both boys with confusion. “They came up didn’t they?” 

“Relax, He’s with Chuckie.” Alby waved off her question, staring down at Ben. “You gave him the serum right?” 

“Yes, right when he got here. The screaming will stop once he passes out, but until then we’re just gonna have to live with it.” 

“Okay, go get your dinner. Newt and I can look after him.” Alby told her, moving to crouch beside the bed. 

“Have you two eaten?” She asked, looking between the two of them as her started towards the back door. 

“No, would you mind grabbing us some too love?” Newt asked, smiling up at her as she nodded. 

“Be back in a few. If anything changes, Jeff and Clint are right back here.” She smiled, on her way out before she saw a boy with brown hair enter the room. A boy who she’d never seen before. 

“What do you think you’re doing in here, greenie?” Alby yelled as he turned around and noticed the boy, his eyes on fire. 

“I… uh… want some answers.” The boy murmured, falling back against the doorframe once he’d gotten a good look at Ben. 

“Get your runtcheeks out of here, right now.” Alby ordered. “Chuck’ll help you. If I see you again before tomorrow morning, you ain’t reachin another one alive. I’ll throw you off The Cliff myself, you got me?” Audrey didn’t think she’d ever seen Alby look quite this mad before, but then again she had gotten in the habit of trying to steer clear of him after what happened when Chuck came up. 

Audrey went to go get the food for herself, and the boys, and found Chuck and the greenie already in line. “Hey Chuck.” She smiled at the young boy.

“Hey Audrey. How’s it going?” He smiled up at her, pushing the greenie forward in the line. 

“It’d be a whole lot better if the runners stopped getting stung.” She felt like klunk. If anyone else got stung, it would be one of her friends. It scared her half to death.

“Fair enough. This is Thomas, by the way.” Chuck pointed at the new greenie in front of him. 

“Hi Thomas, i’m Audrey. It’s nice to meet you.” She tried her hardest to smile and be as nice as she could.

“You look like you’ve had a rough day.” Thomas commented, grabbing some sandwiches from Frypan.

“Yeah, it’s been a mess.” She laughed coldly. “Don’t worry Thomas, you’ll end up liking this place a whole lot.” She informed him before grabbing three sandwiches and heading back to the tent. “His name is Thomas.” She informed Newt as soon as she got back. “Did either of you even bother to ask when you introduced yourselves?” She asked as she handed them their plates. 

“I never got the chance, Ben screamed right after I introduced myself and I came here.” Newt informed her, happily digging into his dinner. 

“Well he seems nice enough. And he’s pretty attractive compared to some of you guys.” Audrey smiled, watching as Newt shook his head at her. 

“Some of you guys better not include me.” He teased, before Alby fake gagged and got up, taking his plate with him. 

“That’s enough of that. I’m going to check on the other two, hopefully their being less… whatever that was.” 

“Oh, hey could you send them here after? I want to make sure they didn’t get any serious injuries out there today.” Audrey asked as Alby opened the door, turning back when she started talking.

“Good that.” He answered shortly before exiting the room, leaving Newt, Audrey and Ben all alone. 

“Why was he so angry before, when Thomas came in?” Audrey asked once the door had shut and she was sure he was gone. 

“We have rules, and Thomas just bloody got here. He shouldn’t be coming in here and seeing someone going through The Changing within the first few minutes being here. And Alby is stressed out. We all are.” Newt answered with a sigh, glancing over at Ben. “Especially since the Grievers are becoming more active.” 

“I’m going to bed.” Audrey declared, thoroughly exhausted. “And you are too. Let’s go.” She dragged Newt out of the tent, and into homestead. 

“Auds, what about Ben?” Newt asked, throwing off his shirt and climbing into bed. 

“Jeff and Clint can handle it.” She told him, slipping under the covers with him. “I just need to sleep.”

“I won’t be here when you wake. I’m givin’ Greenie the bloody tour.” He told her just before she passed out.

\---------

Newt had woken Thomas early the next morning. He sat with the kid and explained the maze. Thomas seemed to be eager to go in, so Newt tried to do everything he could to scare him off. They watched as Minho and Thao disappeared into the maze. It made Newt’s stomach churn. It wouldn’t be long until one of them were stung, or killed. 

“Right greenie, you ready for some breakfast, ya shank?” Newt asked, getting to his feet. His leg was already killing him.

“Sure em, shank.” Newt laughed. He liked this kid, and thought that Minho and the girls would as well. 

When the reached the kitchen’s, Newt headed for the table Audrey was already sitting at, happily eating some scrambled eggs. “Hey, how’d the first part of the tour go?” She asked when she saw him, before seeing Thomas following behind him. “Oh, hey Thomas.” 

“It was good, right Thomas?” Newt smiled, leaning over to steal a bite of toast from Audrey’s plate. “God, I’m starving.” 

“Go get your own food.” Audrey laughed, quickly covering her plate. “And Thomas needs some too.” She shooed him, before gesturing to Thomas to sit down. “He’ll bring your breakfast,   
don’t worry.” She smiled, picking at her toast. 

“Thanks.” Thomas said as he took a seat, rather awkwardly, across from her. 

“So, how was your tour? I think Newt said Alby would be taking you on the rest today and his job was just to tell you about the grievers.” Audrey rambled a bit, looking at Thomas curiously. 

“Fine, yeah.” Thomas answered, not really paying attention to much she said, and Audrey suddenly Newt had taking the boy with him instead. 

“That’s good. I know it's a lot to take in, but the people here are all pretty great.” She smiled, trying to keep the conversation going. 

“What’s that guy's problem?” Thomas suddenly asked, looking over her shoulder at Gally. Audrey turned to see before looking back at him. 

“Look, I’ve only been here for two months as of yesterday, but Gally? He’s been here a while, and gone through a lot. He was even stung once. I’m pretty sure Newt called it The Changing once. He just copes with it a little differently than the rest I guess.” Audrey shrugged, really trying to see the best in Gally, not that it was an easy task. Newt returned a few seconds later, before Thomas had the chance to say any more. 

“Two of Frypan’s killer breakfast plates, ready to be eaten.” He grinned, taking his seat next to Audrey and kissing her cheek. “What were you two talking about?” 

“How annoying you are.” Thomas laughed, grabbing a plate from Newt. “Thanks a ton.” 

“No problem, shank.” Newt laughed. 

“After you hang out with Alby today, come find us. We’ll introduce you to our two other friends.” Audrey suggested, putting the last bit of toast in her mouth. “Right, I’m off to see Ben. See you shanks later.” 

“Who are your friends?” Thomas asked Newt, once Audrey had left.

“Those two runners you were ogling earlier.” Newt laughed, taking a huge bite of eggs. 

“Runnin’ looks fun.” Thomas told Newt, pushing his food around with his fork.

“Ha!” Newt laughed, putting down his fork and leaning over the table to look at Thomas closer. “You hear that screamin’ kid last nigh’ shuckface? That’s what happens to runners. So good luck with that.” 

\------

A few hours later, Audrey heard a loud noise. She’d only heard the noise twice before, so she wasn’t to worried about it. When she saw Newt run past the door of the tent, however, she was confused. She left the tent, and followed Newt to the box. Newt was standing with Alby amongst the large crowd. She noticed the greenie, and walked up to him.

“What’s going on?” She asked him. Yeah, ask the kid who’s been here a whole shucking day, what’s going on. 

“Alby said it’s a new- a new greenie.” Thomas said, sounding heavily confused. “I don’t get it- how would they know that?”

“Greenies only come up once a month, you just got here yesterday. Are you sure about that?” She countered, just as confused as she had been her first day.

The doors opened, and Newt and Alby stepped up to the box. Everyone else stood back.

“Holy... “ Newt mumbled, before quickly hopping into the box and disappearing from the others veiws. 

“What’s happening?” 

“What’s going on?” 

“Is it a Greenie?” The growing crowd started shouting questions, and Ably quickly silenced thing. 

“Everybody slim it.” He ordered, and everyone grew quiet as he continued. “This is the first time this has happened in two years, so I need everybody to take a few steps back and stay as shucking quiet as you can until Newt and I figure it out.” 

“So it is a new… greenie then?” Thomas asked, stepping forward before Audrey pulled him right back. 

“Yeah it’s a new greenie. A girl actually.” Alby answered, before Newt stood back up and came into view again. 

“That’s not bloody half of it.” He started, looking at Alby before finding Audrey in the crowd. “I think she’s dead.” Audrey quickly pushed past Thomas and Chuck, making her way to where Alby stood. 

“Do you mind?” She asked, before just jumping in anyways. “Oh my gosh, okay we need to get her out of here.” As she finished saying that, Alby had jumped in too and was currently helping Newt pick her up, so Audrey jumped in to help. “Someone go tell Jeff and Clint, now!” She called out to anyone who would listen, hoping someone would actually go. 

“Greenie, get over here.” Newt snapped the minute they got her up and Audrey could start examining her. Her skin was pale, nearly as white as pearls and her hair was covering most of her face. Thomas audibly gulped and started on his way towards the three, looking down at the girl. 

“You know this girl, Shank?” Alby asked, sounding ticked off. 

“Know her? Of course I don’t know her. I don’t know anyone. Except for you guys.” 

“I mean, does she look familiar at all? Any weird feeling you’ve seen her before?” Alby said with a frustrated sigh. 

“Guys, it’s really hard to try and keep track of her pulse if you’re talking.” Audrey muttered, holding the girl’s wrist lightly in her hand. 

“No. Nothing.” 

“You sure?” 

“Yes, why?” Thomas asked, still obviously very confused. 

“Shuck it. Can’t be a coincidence. Two days, two greenies, one alive, one dead.” Alby muttered, looking back at the girl. 

“You don’t think I…” Thomas started, panic written all over his face. 

“Slim it, Greenie,” Newt said. “We’re not saying you bloody killed the girl.” 

“I swear she doesn’t look familiar at all.” Thomas insisted, clearly becoming annoyed with being accused of something. 

“Are you ----” Before Newt could finish, the girl shot up into a sitting position, scaring Audrey and making her jump back. As she sucked in a huge breath, her eyes snapped open and she blinked, looking around at the crowd surrounding her. Alby cried out and fell backwards. Newt gasped and jumped up, stumbling to where Audrey now was. But Thomas stayed still, his gaze locked on the girl, frozen in fear. 

“Everything is going to change.” She said, almost as a whisper before her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell back to the ground. Her right fist shot into the air as she landed, staying rigid after she grew still, pointing up towards the sky. Clutched in her hand was a wadded piece of paper. 

Newt ran forward and pulled her fingers apart, grabbing the paper. With shaking hands, he unfolded it, then dropped to his knees, spreading out the note on the ground. Audrey, Thomas and Alby all came up behind him to read what it said. 

Scrawled across the paper in thick black letters were five words. ‘She’s the last one. Ever.’ 

Newt read it out loud so everyone else knew what it said, but no one said a word. All eyes were on the mysterious girl, who turned out was very much alive. 

Newt stood and crumpled the note in his fist, veins popping from his skin as he squeezed it. 

“I need Clint and Jeff. Now.” Audrey mumbled, as Alby yelled out for them. The two other Med-Jacks quickly pushed through the crowd, before finally reaching the smaller group. 

“So what do we do with her?” Jeff asked, looking between the girl on the ground and Audrey. 

“Let's just get her to the tent, and worry about that after.” Audrey sighed before filling them on the girls conditions. “Her breathing is okay, and her heartbeat is normal. Maybe a little slow but I think she’s in a coma.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed :)  
> -Alex and Katie


	12. Chapter 12

Minho and Thao had just stopped for a snack break. Honestly, it was more of a ‘lay exhausted on the ground and make out for a few minutes’ break, but there were still snacks. They hadn’t actually been running right before, just walking around, laughing, and wasting time. Minho loved it. He loved being in the maze with only her, having her laugh at his dumb jokes, wasting their days away.

“I was thinking that we could waste some time in the map room tonight.” He suggested with a wink. “Spend some time going over today’s activities.”

“Does the word sex scare you Min, because that was the lamest way of asking for it.” Thao laughed, pulling his arm over her shoulders.

“Would you, Runner Thao, like to sex?” He asked with his playful demeanor. 

“Min, you really know how to get a girl going.” The pair laughed, which caused them to stop for a breath, which ended in them making out. “We should get going.” Thao suggested, shoving him off of her.

No. I want to stay here forever. “Yeah, you’re right. The doors will be closing soon anyways.” He sighed, running his hand through his already messed up hair. The pair took off running, making it to the doors just in time. 

Minho saw Audrey, Newt, and the new Greenie waiting for them. Apparently I have a new friend. “Newt!” Minho squealed, a manly squeal, and knocked Newt to the ground, peppering kisses all over his face.

“Minho.” Newt’s tone was very serious, so Minho figured he should act serious as well. 

“Yes, sir.” He saluted his best friend, only to find the boy was being extra serious. Shuck. 

“Gathering. Now.” Newt told him, trying to get up.

“Why?” Minho asked, easily holding him down. 

“Minho, we need to go.” Newt looked angry. Minho didn’t care, he wanted to know why.

“Why?” He asked, more firmly this time.

“There’s a new Greenie.” Newt explained, his eyebrows drawn together.

“Yes, hello, I’m Minho.” He turned and waved to the greenie standing beside Audrey. “See, I’ve met him Newt, that’s not a reason for a Gathering.”

“A new Greenie came up today Minho. A girl. With a note that said “she’s the last one ever.” Minho allowed Newt to get up.

“Shuck.”

“You two need to go. Gally is going to be furious.” Audrey informed them, before turning to Thao. “And I need your help, Clint and Jeff are exhausted from taking care of Ben all night. So I need extra hands, and I trust you.” 

“What can I do?” Thomas asked, looking between the four friends. 

“Find Chuck.” Newt called as Minho and him ran off towards the Homestead. 

“Yeah, he’s right. The best plan right now is to find Chuck. Sorry Thomas, we’ll have to postpone the fun til later.” Audrey gave him a small smile, before grabbing Thao and dragging her   
towards the Med-Jack area. 

“So when did she come up?” Minho asked as he and Newt slowed down, preparing themselves for the gathering. 

“Just after lunch today, the alarm went off and up she came not a half hour later. You should see this girl Minho, she’s unbelievably pale. Audrey said she thinks she’s in a bloody coma.” Newt shook his head, going over the earlier events in his head. 

“A coma? From when she first got up?”   
“That’s the weird bit. I thought she was dead when she first got here, and so did everyone else. But then, she shot up and said ‘Everything is going to change.’ before passing out again.   
Scared the bloody klunk out of everyone.” 

“That’s shucked up.” Minho muttered, scratching the back of his neck. “Is she at least hot?” He asked with a laugh.

“Yeah. Not that it matters, since I have Audrey.” Newt elbowed him in the ribs. “But yeah, she’s a babe.”

“Good. At least the Creators know how to pick the women they send up.” Minho commented, unbuckling his runner gear. “And the men, come to think of it. I mean look at the two of us.   
We’re bloody fit.” He used his best british accent on the last part, flexing his muscles. 

“True, but we’re the most attractive two here.” Newt pointed out, throwing his hand through his hair in an exaggerated manner. 

“Other than Gally, of course.” Both boys burst out laughing at this. They roared with laughter until they arrived at the Gathering, where all the others stood solemnly. 

“Glad you two find this situation so hilarious.” Alby shot as the pair entered the circle. “Perhaps you’d like to start us off with your opinion.”

“Maybe the Creators are just giving up on us.” Newt shrugged, before trying to calm down and get serious about the situation in front of him. “We always thought they would ditch us eventually.” 

“You think this is how they would leave us? After all the things we’ve gone through?” 

“Do you have a better explanation? Why else did the girl say everything is going to change? What other reason is there for the note? The girl is in a bloody coma, and none of us know what to make of it.” 

“Alright, everyone slim it.” Alby ordered, looking around the room. “This is just another obstacle we have to overcome. But if we want a chance to do that, we have to calm the shuck down and focus on the facts.” 

“We don’t even know what the facts are.” Gally huffed from his seat, shaking his head. “All I know is from the second that greenie came up, the shuckface who isn’t in the coma, everything has gone wrong. Maybe we should be questioning him.” 

“Thomas is just as confused as the rest of us, we can’t blame him for everything that's going on. Besides, the kid hasn’t done anything wrong.” 

“Then why’d you get so angry with him earlier?” 

“I questioned him about it, it’s different.” Alby insisted, looking over to Newt and Minho. “What do you make of him, and what’s happened?” 

“I think he’s great. He wants to be a runner. Honestly, the kid doesn’t know a thing, he’s in as big of a panic as every greenie ever.” Newt argued, crossing his arms.

“We need to think logically here. Did she bring up any supplies with her?” Minho asked, a dreadful thought coming into his mind.

“No. It came up with the greenie yesterday.” Zart told him, as if it was the dumbest question in the world.

“Has the box gone down yet?” 

“No.” 

“Shuck.” Minho and Newt swore at the same time, looking at each other, panicked. 

“What?” Alby demanded, looking angry that someone had figured something out before he did. Not the sharpest guy in the Glade, Minho thought.

“Looks like we got a bigger issue than a shucking greenie.” Minho’s heart was racing, this was actually terrifying. Not that I would admit that. I’m tough, I’m not scared.

“Oh? And what’s that, slinthead?” Gally scowled.

“If the box isn’t going down, I don’t think we’re going to see anymore supplies come up, ever again.” The others’ expressions darkened, realisation setting in that the Keeper of the Runners was probably right.

“But, we’ve always prepared for the worst. We don’t need to rely on the box as much as we use to, so although it is a problem it’s not one we haven’t thought up a solution for before.” Newt said a few seconds later, thinking back to his discussion with Audrey about this same thing the other day. “What we need to figure out now is what’s wrong with that girl who came up, and why she is the way she is.” 

“How are we supposed to do that? I’m the damned Keeper of the Med-Jacks, and I can tell you right now it doesn’t look like she’s waking up any time soon.” Clint said, shaking his head. 

“What about the increasing Griever attacks?” Gally asked, obviously having little concern about the girl. “Don’t you Shanks think it’s a little weird that they’ve been getting worse since   
Thomas showed up?” 

“Maybe the Creators want us to solve the buggin Maze already and are giving us a push to find it faster or die trying.” 

“Or maybe they just want us all dead.” 

“We’re going to run out of food and livestock eventually, what are we supposed to do then?” 

“What if the water pumps stop working one day? That’s our only water supply.” 

“It never rains here either, so we’d die of dehydration.” The room broke out into panicked outbursts, each Keeper jumping to the worst conclusion.

“Slim it!” Alby yelled over them all, hitting the table in front of him. “You guys are the Keepers. That means you keep your shuck heads in line when this klunk happens. There’s going to be a panic soon, people are gonna start realising that the shucking box ain’t comin’ up ever again. You need to be there for the others.” The group quieted and stared at him in shock. The sounds of quick beating hearts was almost audible over the silence.

“Alright. Fry, you guys are going to need to start rationing. If the box don’t come up next week, we’re cutting down to two meals a day. No snacks.” Frypan nodded, and the other boys groaned. 

“Gally. You need to gather the builders. You have the most collective muscle, so you need to start storing water. Build some barrels, and get enough to last two months, at least.” Gally nodded. Minho was surprised there was no snarky remark. 

“Zart. Harvest what you can. Perhaps you lot should get some water saved up as well. Don’t plant any good stuff. Only plant old stuff that we can’t eat anymore. And keep those crops good and healthy.” Zart, and Newt nodded. 

“Clint. We know the grievers are getting worse. So ration your supplies. If some shank comes in with a bleedin’ nose, tell em to suck it up. People are gonna get sick if they’re eatin’ less, lowered immune systems and all.”

“Winston. Do not slaughter a single animal unless it is three hundred percent dead, ya hear me shank?” Winston nodded quickly, eyes wide. 

“Minho. We’ll see about getting you a third runner, but for now we need the two of you doubling your efforts, both out there everyday. No more buddy system, got it?” Well shuck you too Alby.

“You know we’ve been looking at the same shucking maze for two years now, Alby. There’s not a shuck way out.” Minho told him aggressively. “We’re going to die here Alby.”

“Wow, you’re such a cheerful person, Min.” Newt commented, earning a few smiles from the rest of the group. All you shanks know I’m right. Minho thought, looking around at the fear in the boys’ eyes. 

“Maybe something will be different now. That girl did say everything is going to change. We need to find out exactly what that change is.” Alby declared, looking everyone over. “And we need to figure it out as fast as possible.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you guys think of Audrey and Thao?  
> -Alex and Katie <3


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

“Audrey? Thao? You guys in here?” Newt asked as both Minho and himself entered the Med-Jacks tent. 

“In the back!” Thao called a few seconds later, popping out from the last door and making her way towards them, Audrey following right behind. “How was the gathering? What happened?” 

“Yeah, any big decisions?” Audrey asked, watching as Clint followed in behind the boys and pushed past the group. 

“Audrey, you can take the rest of the night off. We’ve got Ben and Coma girl.” He mumbled, not bothering to say hello or goodbye as he vanished into the other room. 

“We just talked about all the different possibilities that we think could happen next. We’re taking a few small precautions is all.” Newt shrugged, sugarcoating most of the meeting for them. 

“Really? I thought since Alby got so angry earlier the meeting might have been a little tough to deal with.” Audrey said, moving over to give Newt a side hug. 

“That’s just how Alby deals with the questions we don't have answers to.” Newt sighed, resting his head against the nearest wall. “I’m a little anxious, honestly. This won’t end well.” 

“Anxious? I’m terrified.” Minho admitted, slumping against the wall and sliding to the floor. “Keepers are supposed to talk to their groups sometime tonight. So uh, group,” He addressed   
Thao, rubbing his temple. “We need to cover all the maze as much as possible and find a way out. Nothing new. Except we can’t run together.” He looked upset, dropping his head onto his knee.

“You two cannot be out there alone. That’s klunk. Alby can’t send you guys out there alone after all the shuckin’ griever attacks.” Audrey argued hysterically. “You need to talk to him.”

“No, he’s right. We need to find a way out. That’s not happening if we’re joking around all day.” Thao admitted, running a hand through her already messy hair. Just then, Clint and Jeff came racing down the stairs. 

“Where’s Ben?” Clint asked, his eyes lit up.

“I don’t know,” Audrey replied, affronted. “Weren’t you with him?” She asked Jeff.

“I thought you were!”

“Clint told me to leave. He was there ten minutes ago.” She stressed, looking wildly between the other med-jacks.

“Shuck.” Clint groaned, rubbing his face. “Newt, go get Alby. Minho and Thao, can you two find that greenie? Ben kept saying his name all shuckin’ day.”

Seconds later the group dispersed, running out of the Med-Jack tent and towards their new destinations. Audrey had taken off after Newt, deciding it was probably best for a Med-Jack to be there once they found him. 

And a couple minutes after informing Alby, and letting the first in command grab his bow, they had found him. In the Deadheads with Thomas. 

“Ben!” Alby yelled once he reached the edge of the graveyard, pointing the bow and arrow straight at the sick boy. Ben was holding a knife, and was standing in nothing but his shorts. “Ben, stop this right now, or you ain’t gonna see tomorrow.” 

“If you kill me,” Ben shrieked, spit flying from his mouth, far enough to hit Thomas in the face. “you’ll get the wrong guy.” His gaze snapped back to Thomas, and his voice was full of madness. “He’s the shank you wanna kill.” 

“Don’t be stupid Ben,” Alby said, his voice calm as he continued to aim the arrow. “Thomas just got here- ain’t nothing to worry about. You’re still buggin from The Changing. Ya should’ve never left your bed.” 

“He’s not one of us!” Ben shouted, and Audrey shuttered as he spoke. “I saw him--He’s… he’s bad. We have to kill him. Let me gut him.” Thomas took a step backwards, horrified by what Ben had said. 

“You leave that to me and the Keepers to figure out, shuck-face.” Alby said, the bow still aiming at Ben. “Right now, back your scrawny butt down and get to the Homestead.” 

“He’ll wanna take us Home.” Ben said, “He’ll wanna get us out of the Maze. Better we all jumped off the Cliff! Better we tore each other’s guts out.” 

“The sting must be causing him hallucinations or something.” Audrey whispered to Newt quietly. “This isn’t like him.” 

“What are you talking-” Thomas started, before Ben cut him off. 

“Shut your face! Shut your ugly, traitorous face!” 

“Ben, I’m gonna count to three.” Alby said, his voice still remaining calm. 

“He’s bad, he’s bad, he’s bad…” Ben whispered, almost chanting. He was swaying back and fourth, switching the knife from hand to hand, eyes glued on Thomas. 

“One” 

“Bad, bad, bad ,bad, bad…” Ben smiled, his teeth seeming to glow, greenish in the pale light. 

“Two.” Alby’s voice was louder, filled with warning. 

“What happens if he gets to three?” Audrey asked, starting to panic a little more than before. 

“Ben, I’m not… I don’t even know what----” Thomas said, trying to make sense of it all. 

Ben screamed, a strangled gurgle of madness, and leaped into the air, slashing out with his blade. Audrey jumped and quickly turned away, too scared to see what happens next. 

“Three!” Alby shouted. 

Newt threw his arms around Audrey, pulling her to his chest. He squeezed her tightly as she heard the sound of snapping wire, and the gross sound of the arrow hitting flesh. She took a deep breath and turned around, regretting it immediately. 

Thomas was standing beside Ben staring at him in shock. The arrow stuck out of Ben’s cheek, and he lay unmoving on the ground. Thomas looked like he was going to be sick. “Oh my god.” She whispered, turning her head away again, burying it into Newt’s chest.

“Come on, baggers’ll take care of him tomorrow.” Alby told them, and began walking away. Thomas followed Alby out, limping as he went. Audrey thought she should check to see if he was alright, but decided to give him some space, when she heard him retching and coughing just beyond the trees. 

“Let’s go.” Newt whispered, pulling her away from the body of the boy. “Don’t look. Shh, it’s okay, love.” Audrey hadn’t realised she was crying until Newt reached up to wipe her tears. “Shh. Let’s go to bed, darling. We don’t need anymore trouble tonight.”

“He just.. He shot him.” She mumbled, trying to process everything. “How do you just, you can’t just shoot someone like that and walk away. What about rule number two?” 

“Ben was going to kill Thomas, so Alby hurt Ben.” Newt mumbled, keeping Audrey close as they made it out of the forest. “Try not to think about it love.” 

“We need to find Minho and Thao. We have to tell them. Oh god we have to tell them.” Audrey realized halfway through her sentence that Ben had been a Runner with them, which meant they were probably close.

“Their probably at the Homestead, let’s just focus on getting you there first.” Newt continued to comfort her and also lean on her for some support as they walked, his eyes scanning the area for their two friends just in case. 

“What if everything he did was because of the sting?” 

“Shh, stop thinking about it.” Newt sighed, stopping just outside the building to pull her into a hug. “You’ll only get more upset.” 

“Audrey? Newt? Are you guys okay?” Minho and Thao were approaching the building from the other direction, and instantly ran up to the pair. “What happened? Why is she crying?”   
Newt quickly gestured for them to be quiet, placing his finger over his mouth before moving to whisper something in Audrey’s ear. A few seconds later she nodded her head, before turning to look at her friends. 

“Sorry, we’re fine. I’m fine.” She started, wiping at her eyes quickly. “We uh, we found Ben. He was in the Deadheads, threatening Thomas with a knife.” 

“Ben’s dead.” Newt interrupted, sensing Audrey’s reluctance. “He tried to kill Thomas, so Alby shot him.” Minho and Thao paled. They lost one of their own, Audrey knew that was hard. 

“Where’s the greenie?” Minho asked, obviously curious as to what had happened.

“I’ll talk to him in the morning. You two were too close to Ben to be interrogating the kid.” Newt supplied, pointing to the door. “We are all going to bed. Now.”


	14. Chapter 14

The next morning Minho and Thao set off into the maze, covering different sections. Audrey got some soup from Frypan, and was spoon feeding it to the girl. Newt talked to Thomas over breakfast, reassuring the kid that it was alright, and it wasn’t his fault. As Newt talked to the greenie, he realised the kid was barely listening.

“Tommy, are you even listening to me?” He asked, startling the boy. “Gonna get you started with the slicers today, just like every newbie. Probably think i’m a slinthead shank for gettin’ you to work today, but it’s gotta be done sometime.” Thomas only nodded.

Newt dropped him off with Winston, who seemed more than happy to show the newbie around. Newt doubted that Thomas would stick to well to bein’ a slicer, but it was worth a shot. Newt bid the kid goodbye, and set off to do his rounds for the day.

On his lunch break, he brought Audrey a plate of food. When he got to the Med-Jack tent however, Alby and a few of the baggers were there. “What’s going on?” He asked, looking over at Alby as he finished up a conversation with the baggers before they all left. 

“Turns out I missed.” Alby started with a sigh. “When the baggers went to deal with with Ben, they found the shank still breathing.” 

“So what, we left him alone in the bloody forest alive and suffering?” Newt asked, growing slightly furious that they’d left him alone to die. 

“Keep it down would ya?” Alby shushed him, pulling Newt closer. “I’ve got your girlfriend patching him up, and after that he’s going in the slammer.” 

“What’s the bloody plan after that?” 

“He tried to kill one of his own. We gotta banish him.” 

“What?” Audrey’s voice made both of their head snap up in her direction, and her face was scrunched up in an unreadable expression. “You mean to tell me I just spent the last half an hour patching Ben up and comforting him to sleep so that you could just banish him? How do you even banish someone its not like---” She paused when she realized what exactly banishing was.   
“No. No you can’t do that.” 

“Audrey…” Newt started towards her, but she took a step back and glared at the two of them. 

“That’s not right.” 

“It’s the rules, Ben knew that and still went ahead and tried to kill Thomas.” Alby pointed out, earning a glare from Newt. “Rule two is we never hurt another glader, and Ben tried to murder one.” 

“And last night, I thought you had killed one.” Audrey defended, not being able to accept that banishment was something that happened. And was going to happen. “So who really broke the rules?” 

“Audrey, don’t think about this so much.” 

“No, I’m tired of you telling me that Newt. And I’m tired of having to not say what I think because Alby might throw me in the slammer. Banishing Ben isn’t right, he’s sick!” 

Alby rolled his eyes and left, walking to go see the injured boy. Audrey tried to stop him, but Newt pulled her to him. “Let go of me Newt.” She tried to escape from his grip, but he held her tightly. Alby and Jeff appeared at the doorway, Ben struggling in between them.

“Please. Stop.” The boy begged, only half conscious. “Alby, I didn’t mean it. Please.” Audrey screamed and fought against Newt’s hold as Ably and Jeff took Ben away. It was no use, Newt was too strong for her, so she broke down into tears instead, thankful he was still holding her tightly. 

\----------

A few hours later, Thomas and Audrey were sitting by the doors, waiting for Minho to come back. Thao was in the map room, and had been for the past hour. Audrey had decided not to mention Ben just yet. Newt was in some sort of Gathering again, but this time they hadn’t chosen to wait for Minho, and Audrey could guess why. 

“I want to be a runner.” Thomas told her, gazing at the towering walls in front of them.

“I don’t. They die a lot.” Audrey told him shortly, leaning back in the grass. “All my friends are runners, don’t you become one too, now.”

The sat in silence for another ten minutes before Minho showed up. He ran through the doors and collapsed to the grass. “Alby! Newt!” He shouted, coughing and spluttering. Audrey winced when a small amount of blood came up with one of the coughs. “Minho, what happened?” She asked, rushing to his side. 

“I’m fine, i’m fine. Just a little excited is all.” He explained, pushing Audrey away lightly.

“What are you excited about?” Thomas asked, curiosity visible all over his face. He looked like a little kid on Christmas morning. I don’t even know what that looks like. Audrey thought to herself, confused by the phrase that popped into her mind. 

“What happened?” Alby gasped, suddenly appearing behind the group. Minho raised his eyes and looked at Thomas. “He’s fine, I don’t care what this shank hears. Just talk!” 

Minho struggled to stand up, wincing with every move, his whole demeanor just screaming exhaustion. Audrey stepped forward again and let him lean against her, steadying himself. “I found a dead one.” 

“Huh?” Alby asked, glancing at Audrey quickly to see if she understood, but she just looked away from him still upset about the banishing punishment. “A dead what?” 

“A dead Griever.” Minho smiled. 

Alby looked like someone had just told him he could grow wings and fly. “Ain’t a good time for jokes.” 

“Look, I wouldn’t believe me if I were you either. But trust me, I did. Big fat nasty one.” 

“You found a dead Griever?” Alby repeated. 

“Yes, Alby.” Minho said, his words laced with annoyance. “A couple miles from here, out near the Cliff.” 

Alby looked out at the Maze, then back at Alby. “Well...why didn’t you bring it back with you?” 

Minho laughed as Audrey resisted the urge she had to giggle. “You been drinkin Frypan’s saucy-sauce? Those things must weigh half a ton, dude. Plus, I wouldn’t touch one if you gave me a free pass out of this place.” 

“What did it look like? Were the metal spikes in or out of it’s body? Did it move at all---was it’s skin still moist?” Alby persisted with the questions.

“Slim it. You gotta see for yourself… it’s weird.” Minho said. 

“Weird?” Alby looked confused. 

“Dude, I’m exhausted, starving and sun-sick. But if you wanna haul it back right now, we could probably make it there and back before the walls shut.” 

Alby looked at his watch. “Better wait till the wake-up tomorrow.” 

“Smartest thing you’ve said in a week.” Minho said, straightening up from beside Audrey before hitting Alby on the arm and walking towards the kitchen with a slight limp, Audrey following   
right behind him. “I should go back out there, but screw it. I’m gonna go eat some of Frypan’s casserole and wait for Thao.” 

“Thao’s already back, she’s in the map room. I’ll grab you both dinner, you head there.” Audrey smiled at Minho when they were far enough away that Alby couldn’t hear them. Minho took off towards the map room, excited to tell Thao what he found. Thomas and Audrey made their way back towards the kitchens in silence. Once they got there, Audrey turned to the boy.  
“Why don’t you go on and find Chuck. I’ve got some stuff to tell these guys.” He nodded and went to sit by Chuck as soon as they had got their food. Audrey carried the three servings to the map room, and kicked the door when she got there. “Open up shanks, my hands are full.”

She heard the wheel turning, and the door swung open to reveal Minho. His hair was slightly messed up, and his shirt half unbuttoned. “Hey Audrey, care to join us?” He winked.

“Gross, no.” He laughed and let her into the room, eagerly taking his food. “Listen up you two. I’ve got something to tell ya, and you ain’t gonna buggin like it.” 

“You are spending way too much time with Newt. You’re starting to sound like a real glader.” Thao laughed, taking a bite of her own food. 

“Well, i’ve been here two months, what do ya expect?” She glanced between the two, biting her lip. “Listen. The baggers went to get Ben this morning after you two left. Turns out Alby’s klunk with an arrow, kid was still alive. I patched him up, and they threw him in the slammer.” Minho nodded, as Thao’s eyes widened. They looked happy that their friend was still alive. “They’re banishing him. Tonight.” 

“Shuck.” Thao whispered, putting down her plate. “It’ll be happening anytime now, let’s go.” She rose to her feet.

“I’m gonna kill Alby if he keeps doing this.” Minho sighed, putting his plate down as well. “You don’t have to watch, Audrey. It’s really bad. We need to be there, moral support and all.” He explained gravely. 

“I’m coming.” Audrey assured him, following the pair from the map room. 

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“Everyone else will be there.” She pointed out, crossing her arms.

“It’s scary. Scarier than what you saw last night. They’re just going to chuck him into the maze. You can’t survive the maze at night.”

“I can handle scary.” She mumbled, hoping that she could as they reached the growing crowd outside the East Door. Alby and Newt were at the front of the crowd, whispering amongst themselves. “How is he standing up there, going along with this?” 

“It comes with his job. He’s got to make some tough decisions, and follow some of Alby’s shit too.” 

“He didn’t even fight for Ben earlier.” 

“Wouldn’t have mattered, once Alby’s made up his mind there’s no changing it.” 

“Bring him out!” Alby shouted, making Audrey jump a little. From the far side of the Homestead, three of the bigger boys appeared, literally dragging Ben along the ground. His clothes were tattered, barely hanging on and the bandage Audrey had so carefully applied earlier was now bloody. He refused to put his feet down or help the progress in any way, making it that much harder for Audrey to watch. So instead she turned to look at Minho and Thao, hoping that it would help. She instantly regretted the decision and looked back at Ben. His eyes were open, and they were wide with terror. 

“Newt,” Alby said in a much quieter voice. “Bring out the Pole.” 

Newt nodded, already on the move toward a small tool shed used for the Gardens. 

“You brought this on yourself, Ben,” Alby said. Audrey quickly glared at him before looking back to see where Newt had gone. He walked through the doors, carrying several aluminum poles, connecting the ends to make a shaft maybe twenty feet long. When he was finished, he grabbed something odd shaped on one of the ends of and dragged the whole thing towards Alby. 

Eventually he stepped up to Alby and handed over the end of the pole he was holding. The strange attachment was a loop of rough leather, fastened to the metal with a massive staple. A large button snap revealed that the loop could open and close, and suddenly Audrey felt sick to her stomach. It was a collar. 

Audrey watched as Alby secured Ben to the pole with the collar. He’s not an animal. She screamed at them in her mind. Her whole body was shaking. Ben was whimpering, crying, and pleading at the end of the pole. Alby picked up the banishment pole and gave it a tug, causing Ben to stumble a bit. A few of the gladers laughed. 

“Ben of the Runners, you’ve been sentenced to Banishment for the attempted murder of Thomas the Newbie.” Alby looked terrifying. His eyes were bloodshot, his grimace made the whole thing worse, Audrey wished she hadn’t come. “Keepers, take you place on the Banishment Pole.” 

Minho left their side. The Keepers, including Newt, lined up along the Pole, in between Alby and Ben. They grabbed onto the Pole. Audrey didn’t want to watch, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of the event. She was so angry with Newt, she thought she might push him in after Ben. Not really, but she wasn’t happy with him. At all.

Ben started pleading again, wiping furiously at his eyes and nose. “Shut up!” Alby roared, scaring Audrey even more. This isn’t right. The east doors made a rumbling noise and began to close. “Keepers, now.” Alby called over the sound of the walls. Together they pushed the screaming boy towards the maze. Audrey watched as the kid tried to escape, but the Keepers were too strong for him. They kept pushing. 

The walls were nearly shut now, and Ben was standing within the maze. The Keepers heaved on the Pole, which slid from Ben’s neck, and was pulled back into the Glade. Ben screamed. It was worse than anything Audrey had ever heard. It was inhuman. The last thing she saw before the doors banged closed, was the boy falling to his knees in defeat. 

She squeezed her eyes shut and let herself cry for the second time today. “You were right, I shouldn’t have come.” She mumbled, hopping it was still Thao to her right. She opened her eyes to make sure she was, before wiping at her tears. “How... I don't even want to know how that started or whose idea it was.” The crowd had started to disperse now, leaving only a few people near the wall. 

“You really don’t.” Thao muttered, reaching out and hugging Minho as he made his way back. 

“Told you, it’s scary stuff.” Minho sighed, wrapping his arms around Thao, pulling her into a quick hug. 

“That wasn’t a banishment. That was a death sentence with a torture show first.” Audrey remarked, getting mad at the whole situation all over again. “I can’t believe that’s something that happens, I don't want to even think about how that became any kind of resort.” 

“The rules are here to try and keep us all safe. It was bad before you got here, really bad. There needed to be some kind of action taken so that all of us would stop killing each other before the Grievers had a chance.” Minho explained vaguely, before wrapping his arm around Thao’s shoulder. “We should head to bed. I have to take Alby out early tomorrow.” 

“You guys go, I’m gonna---” 

“Wait for Newt?” Thao asked, “Because this isn’t his fault and he needs you. This was hard on him too, he’s just better at hiding his pain.” 

“Yeah, I’m gonna wait for him.” 

“Alright, night.” 

“See ya tomorrow.” 

“Goodnight.” Audrey gave them a small smile as they left, before turning to try and find Newt. She spotted him with Alby, and decided it was probably best not to walk over right now. She couldn’t stay mad at Newt because it wasn’t his fault, but Alby? She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to be forgiving him any time soon. 

Alby finally walked away from Newt, leaving the pair the only ones left near the doors. Neither of them moved towards each other, but rather they stood taking comfort in each other’s presence. 

“There was a time,” Newt began, not yet looking at her. “When I wanted that to be me.” Audrey closed her eyes, she didn’t want anymore bad news. “I thought, ‘Hey, y’know what? I bloody deserve to be sent out like that.’ I couldn’t figure out a way to get banished, without the possibility of hurting someone else. And then I realised I couldn’t act so scared when I wanted something like that.”

Audrey had gravitated towards the boy, her boy, but was still standing about five feet away. “Every time that happens, every time we have to Banish some shank, I want it to be me at the opposite end of the pole. I hate this buggin disease my mind's got, wantin’ me to shuckin’ die all the shuckin’ time.” He took a deep, shuddering breath, and turned to face Audrey, hot tears streaming from his eyes.

“I-i’m so so-sorry.” He hiccuped and fell into Audrey’s arms. “I didn’t want to do th-that. I’m sorry you had to see that. I’m sorry I hu-hurt you.” He cried into her arms and she held him tighter.

“Newt. I don’t blame you for what happened. It’s how it is, there’s nothing you can do about it. You’re just helping to protect the Glade.” He nodded and took another shuddering breath. “You’re mind is not diseased, Newt. Everyone has bad days. Everyone has triggers, like this, that reminds them of those bad days. Nobody here wants you to die, we need you.” She gently started to run her fingers through his hair before whispering an after thought. “I need you, and I don’t care how cheesy it sounds. I do.” They stayed like that for a few more minutes, before Audrey slowly loosened her grip so that she could move beside him, carefully guiding him back to the Homestead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! (Or happy holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas. Sorry this chapter was a little late, it's been a busy few days! Hope you liked it!  
> -Alex and Katie


	15. Chapter 15

It had now been three days since the girl in a coma came up and there was still no signs of her waking up. Audrey, Clint and Jeff had been spoon feeding her every chance they had, but the girl kept eating less each time they tried. And she had started groaning, mumbling on about things that they couldn’t make sense of.

Audrey was currently trying to get the girl to eat before she took a late lunch, but it wasn’t going well at all. Minho and Alby had gone to check out the dead griever hours ago, and Thao had gone out for a bit too, but would be back any minute to work in the map room. And Newt had gotten Thomas up and ready to go see Zart this morning, and she hadn’t seen him since. “Jeff, I’ve been feeding her for the last twenty minutes. She’s only accepted two small sips, so I’m going off to lunch now.” She called, waiting for his answer before she left the girl unattended.

“Gotcha.” Jeff called back, and Audrey took off out of the Med-Jack tent. She made it to the Kitchen just in time to grab the last few bits of things before taking her plate outside in attempts to find her friends. She found Newt rather quickly, but he didn’t look too happy.

“Hey. What's wrong?” She asked, noticing how deeply he was frowning as he stared at the doors.

“They should’ve come back.”

“They’ll get here. Maybe the griever was heavier than they predicted and it's taking twice the amount of energy they thought they needed. Or it could’ve taken them a while to find a good way to move it.” Audrey suggested up solutions, but really she was getting a little worried herself. “It’s Minho. They’ll be here before the doors close.” Newt turned to her with a nod and kissed her cheek, muttering something about going to see Thao before leaving her to eat her lunch.

By the time it was dinner, everyone seemed a little anxious for Alby and Minho to return. Newt had basically forced everyone to eat dinner, but wouldn’t leave the doors that the two boys had left out of. Thao had returned at her scheduled time but remained in the map room, and now they were all just waiting to see the other two. The doors would be closing soon, and Newt wasn't even bothering to hide his concern anymore. Audrey sighed from the table she was at with Thomas and Chuck. “I can’t watch him do this much longer, he’s going to go insane any second now.” She mumbled, getting up and pushing her plate away from her. “I’m going over to wait with him. Boys?”

“Right behind you.” They answered.

\---------

“Where are they?” Newt said, his voice thin and strained. _Minho, you’re cutting it so close this time, you shucking slinthead._

“Why don’t we send out a search party?” Thomas suggested, looking frustrated. _Slinthead. Who even are you. You don’t just stroll into the maze five minutes before it shuts._

“Bloody he-” Newt took a few deep breaths. “We can’t okay?” Thomas looked confused and started to protest. “ You don’t get it Tommy. We can’t just go out into the shuckin’ maze. You don’t think I wouldn’t risk my life in a second to save those lugs?” Newt sighed, running a hand over his face. “Minho knows this place inside and out, he’s too smart to get lost. There’s a reason they’re not back. They’re dead.” Newt spit the words, watching the other three flinch. Audrey glared at him, and then looked at Chuck. She put her hand on his shoulder, and started to guide him away from Newt, not wanting the boy to be scared.

Newt didn’t feel too bad. It was the truth, after all. Newt stared at the maze, his stomach contorting into knots, a lump rising in his throat. “The doors close in two minutes.” He informed Thomas, before turning away from the walls. He started walking away, head hung, tears threatening to spill. _Shuck._ He heard the grinding sound of the doors, but didn’t dare to look back.

“Newt!” He heard Thomas scream his name just as he made it back to homestead. “They’re coming, I can see ‘em!” _Bloody hell._ Newt turned quickly, and ran as fast as his shuck leg would carry him. He could make out the distant shape of two people through the small gap the doors left. One of the was dragging the other, but he couldn’t tell which was which, all he knew is that they weren’t close enough to make it.

He watched as Thomas approached the walls, desperately trying to aid the pair along, without actually entering the maze. _He’s gonna go in, the bloody slinthead._ He was halfway there when he saw a blur to his right. Thao was running full speed at the door. Thomas saw her too. “Don’t do it, Shanks! Don’t bloody do it!” He called, but it didn’t matter. Both Thao and Thomas disappeared into the maze, and the doors banged shut, leaving the four to the same fate Ben had experienced the night before.

Newt’s heart stopped. Literally stopped. He fell to his knees, gasping for air. “Shuck.” He screamed as loud as he could, falling forward onto his hands. _Alby is dead. That newbie is dead. Thao is shucking dead. Minho, oh god Minho. Minho is dead. Not Minho._ The tears were falling down his face so fast he couldn’t breathe. Shuck.

 _I’m the bloody admiral now, pull yourself together slinthead_.

A few seconds later Audrey was at his side obviously still trying to process and figure out what was going on, pulling Newt into a tight hug and doing her best to comfort him through her own tears. The other gladers had started to gather around them, whispering amongst themselves and staring wide eyed at the point but Audrey didn’t really care. “I..” Newt tried to speak from his place in her lap, but it came out as a hiccup that was soon followed by more sobbing. Audrey tightened their hug as much as she possibly could without hurting either of them, and gently laid her head on top of his.

“Shh…” She mumbled, glaring at anyone who tried to approach them. “You’re allowed to need a few minutes, you don’t have to do a thing right now.” She whispered, hoping that everyone else would eventually back off and leave them alone.

“Min..” Newt whispered, and Audrey barely heard him over the growing gossip of everyone else. “Minho and… they are all out there.” He whispered, as if he was saying something she didn’t already know.

“We can’t know what their fate is til tomorrow.”

“I know what their fate is. They're all bloody dead. No one survives a night in the Maze.” Newt broke into sobs all over again, and Audrey just let him curl up in her lap and cry, every second breaking her heart more each time he did.


	16. Chapter 16

Thao stared at Minho, breathing hard. Alby lay on the floor, obviously stung. He let out a vicious scream, and Thao’s breath caught in her throat.  _ Shuck. _ She looked over to Thomas, who was leaning against the wall, panting hard. 

“You are the shuckiest shuck-faced shucks there ever was. Both of you.” Minho glared at the both of them, squatting down, and breathing hard. “I hope you’re both happy. Cause now we’re all dead.” 

_ I’m sorry. _ Thao thought to herself, but she really wasn’t. She wasn’t sorry for running in here to be with him. She walked forward and crouched in front of him. He seemed to be trying for a glare, but his eyes were so sad, and so scared, that it ended up as more of a pleading look. “I’m gonna get you through this, shank.” 

“Is he going to die?” The greenie asked, suddenly, pointing at Alby whose mouth was open in a silent scream. 

“We’re all gonna die slinthead.” Minho told him, looking cross. “Let’s put him by the door. Give ‘em one body that’s easy to find in the morning.” 

“Minho! How can you say that?” Thao asked, completely flabbergasted.  _ He was so scared. _

“Well it’s true, we aren’t getting out of here, and you know it.” He shot back. 

“Why don’t we hoist him onto the wall?” Thomas suggested, pulling on a particularly thick vine. “Maybe the grievers won’t notice him up there.” 

“I like this kid.” Thao told Minho.  _ Good plan kid, you might have managed to impress this shank with that plan. _

“Quick thinking. I like it. You could be a runner, shank.” Minho told him honestly, standing up straight, and gripping Alby under the arms.  Thao ran over and grabbed his legs, and together they carried him over to the wall.

“I want to be a runner.” Thomas admitted, and he fastened the vine securely around Alby’s torso. 

“Well, tell ya what shuck-face. You survive the night, you’re a runner. Deal?” Minho asked, offering a handshake to Thomas.

“Deal.”

\----------

At some point during his break down, Newt had cried himself to sleep in Audrey’s lap and was currently shaking gently, probably dreaming of the time he had spent out in the maze. Audrey didn’t dare to wake him though, and glared at anyone who tried to approach him with questions. She knew if she woke him up, he wouldn’t allow himself to fall asleep again.  

So she sat still on the grass outside the doors to the Maze, running her fingers through Newt’s hair and finally letting herself become as upset as she was that all of her friends were out in the Maze.    
“Audrey?” It was Chuck, and he was carrying what looked to be a set of pillows and a blanket. “Sorry, I just thought maybe you would want these.” He whispered, gently setting them on the ground beside her.    
“Thanks Chuck.” She sniffed, telling herself not to cry in front of this sweet boy. “That was really thoughtful of you.”    
“Audrey?”    
“Yeah?” She asked, knowing it would probably be a question she didn’t have the answers to.” 

“You two are gonna be okay.” Chuck gave her a small smile, before getting up to head back to the Homestead. She was amazed at how thoughtful and mature Chuck was being about this situation, and grateful for his words.She took the blanket and carefully wrapped it around Newt, before using the pillows to make a backrest for herself.   
An hour or so later, Newt shot up from his spot on her lap with a scream. She quickly sat up and pulled him back to her. “Shhh. Newt,” She started, letting him gather his thoughts and process what was going on. “You fell asleep, and Chuck brought us a blanket.”    
“Minho, Thao… Alby and Tommy... “ He said, remembering exactly why they were right outside the doors. “How long has it been?” He asked, pulling away from Audrey’s hug and looking around.    
“Only an hour or two.”    
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep.” He grunted, tugging the blanket off and moving to get up. “There’s a million things I have to figure out.”    
“Figure them out later.”    
“I can’t! Someone needs to keep this bloody place running, and the job falls to me.” Newt shot angrily, but Audrey knew it wasn’t at her. Not yet anyways.    
“It can survive you taking the night off.” Audrey tried, getting up after him, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. “Newt, please.”    
“I can’t dwell on this Auds, I’m in charge now. I have to figure out what we are gonna do.” He sighed, turning back to look at her with the saddest expression she’d seen him with yet. “They are gone, and there’s nothing we can do about it.” 

\---------

Alby was secured high in the vines when Minho first heard it. The clicks, the whirls. The grievers. It sounded far away, but Minho knew that they could play tricks on you. Thomas had heard it too, his face was frozen in shock, unaware what to do. Thao’s eyes darted between the boys, holding her breath. It was definitely getting closer.

“Run!” Minho whisper-yelled, pushing them both in the opposite direction of the sound. They ran hard. Minho hadn’t run this fast in ages, and he knew he wouldn’t last long. He wasn’t a sprinter. Thao on the other hand, she was fast. 

They reached a fork in the road. Thao and Thomas turned left, but Minho veered right, hoping to get the griever off their trail. As he rounded the corner, he chanced a quick glance back, and was horrified by what he saw. Two grievers were making their way towards him at a pace he didn’t think he could outrun.

He made a sharp right, not daring to look back, for fear that it would only slow him down. He made a few more turns, coming back in almost a full circle, before he was certain he’d lost them. He figured it was best to walk for a few minutes, and try to regain his composure. He started to head the way he’d seen Thao and the greenie go, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a griever up ahead. 

It looked dead, just like the one earlier, which had stung Alby. Minho knew not to trust it, however, and ducked back around the corner. He held his breath, waiting for the whirling sounds to start. 

Two minutes later, he heard heavy breathing, and footsteps approaching his hiding place. He panicked, knowing the griever was just around the corner up ahead. He reached out blindly, and grabbed onto Thomas as he bolted past. The boy stopped, and bumped into Thao as Minho jerked him towards his hiding spot. 

“Griever.” He breathed, letting go of Thomas’ shirt, and pulling Thao to his chest. “Stay still.” 

Thomas shrank against the wall, just as the clicking and whirling started again. The trio slowly backed up, moving together. The noise started getting closer.  _ Shuck. _

Minho saw a flash of metal near the end of the hall, and took off running, Thao and Thomas right on his trail. The griever spun, and started chasing them. A second griever soon jumped out of nowhere, and joined the pursuit.

“What are we going to do?” Thomas shrieked, running hard. 

“Just follow me.” Minho yelled back, leading them to the only possible solution; the cliff. Minho shook with fear. They were still a five minute run from the cliff, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up the fast pace. 

“Keep going Min.” Thao yelled. She had started to gain a lead, and Minho knew it was because Thomas and him were slowing down. 

“Run, greenie.” He barked, pushing himself harder. They ran the last few minutes in a panicked, but focused silence. They were making the final turn when Minho finally told Thomas the plan.

“There’s a cliff at the end of this hall, Shank. Dive left.” The grievers were almost on them now, they couldn’t waste a second. “Thao go right, i’m right behind you.” The reached the cliff edge, and dove to the sides. The pair of grievers flew off the edge of the cliff, and into the abyss. 

“Shuck.” Thao whispered, as the three crawled to the edge of the cliff to look down. They all breathed a sigh of relief. Minho moved to the nearest wall, pulling his knees to his chest, and burying his head.  _ Don’t cry, don’t cry, you slinthead. _

He glanced up to see Thomas curled into a ball in the floor, bawling his eyes out. Thao sat on the edge of the cliff, swinging her feet out over the emptiness.  _ She’s okay. Greenie’s okay. You’re okay. Only a few more hours, shank. _ And with that, Minho succumbed to the tears once and for all.

\--------

As another few hours past Newt and Audrey had multiple arguments that ended in one of them becoming too upset to keep defending their point, and the other surrendering to comfort them. The most recent one was about the search party that would happen tomorrow when the Maze doors opened again, and it had left Newt once again crying while Audrey held him in her lap.    
“Newt. Just.. look let’s do something else. Take a break for a few minutes.” She suggested for the seventh billion time, wanting anything but this. Newt was so distraught that half of the decisions he had made, he took whatever it was he said back two seconds later. The whole night just made everything more upsetting and the longer it dragged on the worse the pair felt. 

“What else is there to do? We both know sleeping isn’t going to be easy to do, and I don't want to cry anymore. I’m supposed to be the strong one here, the one that tells everyone else what to do because I’m not scared and they shouldn’t be either.”    
“It’s okay to be scared, I’m buggin terrified. I just can’t take another argument because we’re upset about th---”    
“Don’t. I don't want to fight anymore either. I’m sorry. I just… What are we supposed to do without them? How could Thao run into the bloody maze like that?”    
“Newt, if the roles were reversed Minho would’ve done the exact same thing. Hell, if you were Minho, so would I.” Audrey pointed out, cuddling against him slightly.     
“But you know Minho wouldn’t have wanted her to. Same way with it revered. And I would prefer it if you never stepped a foot out the doors, ever.” 

“But it wouldn’t matter. All she saw was Minho on the other side of the closing wall. If you had to pick between staying on this side and not knowing what happens, or having a chance to go with me out there if I were Minho, which would you choose?”    
“This is bloody awful.” Newt sighed, moving to make it so Audrey was lying on his lap. He stared at the wall in front of him and shook his head, brushing his hands through Audrey’s hair and hoping she would take a turn napping for a bit as he made all the decisions up in his head without her. 

\-------

An hour later, both the boys had calmed down. Thao sighed to herself, looking out over the abyss.  _ There has to be a way out. This has to be it. _ She knew it, but Minho denied the idea every time she brought it up.  _ Stupid boys _ . “Ready to head back, boys? We don’t have long before the doors open.” 

Thomas nodded, wiping his reddened eyes, and rose to his feet. He dusted himself off, and Thao watched him longer than she’d like to admit. Minho got up a few moments after Thomas, keeping his eyes trained on the floor. 

He walked over to Thao, and slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “I love you.” He whispered into her hair.

“Okay, that was cheesey. Let’s go.” She led the pair back towards where they had left Alby. It took them a good forty-five minutes to walk back to where they had left him. Thao was grateful they hadn't run into anymore grievers. They found Alby and lowered him to the ground.

“Great, now we have to get this shuck-face to the other doors.” Minho complained, grabbing Alby under the arms again. This time Thomas grabbed his legs, and together, they managed to carry him.

“I can’t believe this shank is still alive.” Minho muttered, shaking his head. “I didn’t know you could survive this long without the grief serum.”

“Maybe he just gets more memories back, the long you leave it?” Thao suggested, stopping suddenly.

“What?” Minho whispered, terrified she’d seen a griever. 

“We survived a night in the maze boys. Good job.” She smiled, and they turned the final corner. At the end of the long hall, they saw a group of gladers. Newt was in the front, mouth hanging open in shock.

“What happened?” Newt asked, limping over once the group was close enough. He sounded almost angry. “How the bloody he---” He was cut off when Minho slowly lowered Alby to the ground with Thomas and ran over to him, pulling him into a hug. It only took another second before Newt was hugging back, and Audrey ran up, quickly pulling Thao into one.    
“How did you guys…What happened to no one survives a night in the maze? You guys need to get to the Med-Jacks right now.” She rambled, pulling back from Thao to give Thomas a quick hug as Clint and Jeff ran up to grab Alby.    
When she turned to Newt and Minho however, she found them still hugging and smiled a bit. “Thomas, Thao why don’t we start heading there now. I think these two need a minute.” She mumbled, gently tugging the others away from the two boys and towards the tent. “Newt, you drag his ass to the Med-Jack tent, got it?” She called back over her shoulder, only to see him nod and finally pull back a whole five minutes later to start talking with him.    
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired.” Thao mumbled, moving to wipe some sweat off her forehead.  

“I can’t believe that you guys are alive. I can’t even try to imagine how rough your night was.”    
“Trust me. You don’t want to.”    
“C’mon, let's fix you up and get you to bed.” 

 


	17. Chapter 17

“I thought you were for sure dead.” Newt told Minho, as they sat together by the river that ran through the forest. 

“I wasn’t. It was brilliant.” Minho boasted, as if he’d just had the best night of his life. 

“Yeah, I’m sure you loved every second of it.” Newt laughed, kicking at the dirt with his heel. “Seriously, Min, i’m so glad you’re alive.” 

“I did. Especially the hour Thomas and I spent crying.” Minho muttered, kicking some of the dirt at Newt’s leg. 

“Did you really?” Newt wasn’t that surprised, he would have crawled into a corner and bawled till a buggin’ griever came and got him.

“Yeah, kind of embarrassing actually. Dunno why I told ya.” Minho admitted, with a humorless laugh. “It was right after I tricked the two grievers to fall off the cliff.”

“Oh, you’re so bloody smart, Min.” The pair laughed, enjoying their little moment.

“I promised greenbean he could be a runner.” 

“You did what?” Newt asked, not sure he heard him right.

“I said to the shank, you survive, you’re in. I didn’t think we’d shuckin’ survive the night.” Minho sighed, his head dropping forward.

“Well. We gotta have a bloody Gathering, since the slinthead broke Rule Number One. So I guess we’ll talk about it then.” Newt agreed that Thomas should probably be a runner, since he did survive a night in the maze. “You go get some sleep, now. I’ll call the Gathering for when you wake up.”

\---------------

Just as the gathering was coming to an end, a knock on the door grabbed everyone's attention. Chuck stood there, looking like he’d just been chased by a Griever.    
“What’s wrong?” Newt asked, standing up, sounding rather worried.    
Chuck was wringing his hands. “Audrey sent me.”    
“Why?”    
“I guess Alby’s thrashing around and acting all crazy, telling her he needs to talk to somebody.”    
Newt made for the door, but Chuck held up his hand. “Uhm, he doesn’t want to talk to you.”    
“What do you mean?”    
“He keeps asking for him.” Chuck pointed at Thomas.    
“Well come on,”  Newt said, grabbing Thomas by the arm. “No way I’m not going with ya. It is my bloody girlfriend and co-leader.”    
Thomas followed him, with Chuck right behind, as they left the Council room and went down the hall toward a narrow, spiraling staircase that neither Thomas or Chuck seemed to notice before. Newt took the first step, then gave Chuck a cold glare. “You. Stay.” 

“Newt. Leave.” Alby demanded, the second the boys entered the room. Newt ignored him. 

“How are you Alby?” He asked, earning a terrifying glare from Alby. 

“Leave. Now.” Newt hesitated. “Now!” Alby yelled, and Newt turned on his heel, slamming the door behind him. 

“Slinthead. Shuck-face. What’s so special about that kid. Shuck.” Newt banged his head on the wall, waiting for Thomas and Alby to finish up. Audrey stood beside him,holding a wet cloth in her hand. “Hey gorgeous.” He smiled, turning his head to face her. 

“Hey, how was the Gathering?” She asked him, placing her hand on his cheek.

“I’ll tell ya when Thao’s with us.” 

“Oka-”

“Newt! Newt get in here!” Thomas shrieked from the other side of the door. Newt didn’t hesitate before bursting into the room. The sight before them caused Audrey to scream, and back out of the room. 

Alby was thrashing violently on the bed, as if he were having a seizure. His strong hands were clenched tightly around his throat, and his eyes were buggin’ out, looking panicked. Newt and Thomas quickly got to work trying to control Alby’s limbs. It was a hard fight, and both got knocked off their feet a few times, but they eventually got him settled down. 

“What bloody happened?” Newt demanded, glaring at Thomas. 

“He-he was just telling me about stuff he remembered, and then he whacked out.” Thomas’ eyes were wide, like he’d just see a ghost. “Does that- does that happen often, with the changing?” 

“No, you shuck-face. People don’ usually try to strangle themselves here. This is buggin’ crazy and I don’t know what’s going on.” Audrey chose then as a good time to re-enter the room, coming back in with a bag of supplies. 

“Hey, why don’t you two go grab dinner and take a break from this craziness that it today? I’ll stay here and watch him, make sure nothing like that has a chance to happen again.” She said as she got organized, moving around the two boys.    
“Good that love. We’ve also got to find Gally. Bugger’s probably gone off and hid somewhere.”    
“What did he do?” Audrey asked, looking at the boys curiously.    
“The shank bloody threatened to kill Tommy here, I need to find him and throw his butt in the slammer.” Newt huffed, moving over to give Audrey a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll have someone bring you dinner if I don’t think I have time.”    
“Okay. I’ll be here. Clint is up with the girl too, just so you know.” She smiled.    
“Alright, and Tommy, you're with me today. Slammer tomorrow and Minho the next day. I don’t want you talking to any of the other gladers much. Chuck is okay, Thao and Audrey too. Got it?” Thomas nodded at the two boys left Audrey alone to watch over Alby. “We’re going to check on Clint and the girl before we leave, I want to test something about. After that, you're telling me everything Alby told you.”  

“Tommy, you are going to stare at her till your eyes bleed.” Newt told him as they walked over to the girl’s bed. They sat for a few moments, before Newt realised Tommy was probably staring at the girl because she was bloody hot. “Anything?”

“I do know her. But I don’t know who she is, I just know her from somewhere.” Thomas admitted, eyebrows drawn together.

“Keep concentrating.”

“I’m trying, so shut up.” He leaned closer to the girl, and Newt watched in anticipation. “I just don’t-” Thomas suddenly sprung to his feet, knocking the chair over, and spun in a circle, looking around wildly. 

“What? You look like a buggin’ ballerina. What are you doin’? Did ya remember something?” Newt stared at the boy in confusion. 

“It sounded like she said something to me.”

“She didn’t say a thing shank.”

“I- I swear I heard a name. Casey.”

“No one said that, Tommy.” Newt was concerned for his new friend.  _ Bloody shank, what’s going on up there. _ “But that- that must be her name Tommy. Casey!” 

“I  _ heard  _ it though.” Thomas whispered, leaning in close to the girl again. He suddenly jumped back, knocking the lamp off her bedside table. It shattered on the floor. Newt looked to Thomas, who had his back against the far wall, breathing heavily. 

“What’s bloody wrong with ya? Ya look like you just seen a griever.” 

“She’s-she’s talking to me- in my  _ head _ .” Thomas spluttered, pointing an accusatory finger at the unconscious girl.

“What?”

“I swear!” 

“Sit down shank, what are you bloody goin’ on about?”

“I’m serious Newt.” Thomas looked panicked again, and through his hands over his ears. 

“Tommy, what’s going on, talk to me.” Thomas stood up and staggered out of the room. Newt ran after him, following him onto the grass. The kid broke into a full run, and sprinted straight into the maze.

“What the bloody hell is wrong with that kid?” Newt asked no one in particular.   



	18. Chapter 18

After dinner that night, the small group of friends decided to have a mini bonfire of their own to celebrate the fact that Minho and Thao had actually survived a night in the Maze, since too much crazy stuff had happened the day before.  

They were just waiting on Audrey, who had to wait for Jeff to finish eating before she could leave Alby. “Where the hell is she? Jeff promised me he would send her out once he was done. How long does it take to eat a bloody sandwich?” Newt huffed, growing impatient with the news he had to tell everyone.    
“Here, I’m here. Sorry, Clint needed a bathroom break so I needed to watch the girl.”    
“Casey.” Newt said, earning him three very confused looks. “Tommy remembered it earlier before he flipped out and ran off. Her name is Casey.”    
“Wait, Thomas knows her?”    
“What else does he remember?”    
“You don't think Ben and Gally were right, do ya? I mean, if greenie can spew out her name like that... “    
“That’s the weird bit. He freaked out and said he heard it. I think he meant he heard it in his bloody mind.”    
“When did you go to see her?” Audrey asked “After Alby freaked out?”    
“Wait, Alby freaked out?”     
“Yeah, tried to kill himself. But he said it was like he was being controlled, and it was right as he was telling Thomas that he remembered him. And a thing called the flare.”    
“So that makes three people who have gone through the changing to remember him…” 

“I’m telling ya shanks, there’s something up with that kid.” Newt shook his head, watching the flames.

“I like him.” Thao argued, crossing her arms.

“He’s a cool kid. You guys should get to know him.” Minho suggested.

“Well, he’s going in the slammer tomorrow, and then he’s all yours Min.” Newt laughed. “Honestly though, don’t you guys think it’s a bit weird?”

“I think it’s weird that you're accusing a scared greenie of things he doesn’t even understand.” Thao pointed out, eyebrows raised.

“I’m just scared something is going to happen.” Newt sighed, closing his eyes.    
“What happened in the gathering? Obviously he’s being punished, but it’s not like spending a day in the Slammer is the worst thing in the world. And you said before Gally threatened to kill him?” Audrey asked, looking at both Minho and Newt for answers. “And I still haven’t heard a single thing about how you two survived a night in the Maze. I feel like it's my first day all over again.”     
“Gally threatened to kill Thomas?”    
“Yeah, he’s lucky we don’t bloody Banish him for it.” Newt sighed, earning a glare from Audrey. “Not that I would…” 

“Nice save.”    
“The gathering was awful though. Zart the Fart and Frypan were all about making Thomas part of the council and a runner, and Gally and Winston were against it. Minho didn’t even really help matters much, although the bit about you wanting to replace you as Keeper of the Runners was genius.” Newt continued, deciding to pretend he hadn’t said anything about the banishing. 

“I beat Gally up.” Minho supplied, smirking slightly.

“Where is he now?” Audrey asked, not wanting to be anywhere near the kid. 

“No one knows.” Newt shrugged. “Anyways, Gally and Winston were the only two opposed to the idea, and Gally didn’t get a say in the matter, after he sissied out.” Minho scoffed at Newt’s words.

“Oh. And Minho called himself a- what was it now? Oh right, a panty-wearing chicken. Is that really what it was like out there? Running around in your runnie-undies? Do share.” Newt and the girls burst out laughing, while Minho turned bright red. “Also, what even happened to Alby?”

“Basically, we went out to find that dead griever,” Minho began, looking around at his friends. “Turns out it wasn’t dead. Damn thing just stung Alby and ran off. I dragged him all the way back to the doors, and they started to close, and I wasn’t very well gonna leave the shank in there. And then shuck one and shuck two came parading through the doors like shucking heroes or some-.” 

“Thomas and I were just trying to help.” Thao interrupted, throwing a hand over Minho’s mouth. “Thomas had the idea to hide Alby up in the vines, while this shuck-face was crying about how we were all dead.” Minho fought her hand off, and placed his own hand over her lips.

“Then the shucking clicks started, so I made em book it out of there. Those two shanks ran one way, so I went the other way to divert the things. I lost em eventually, then I had to save the bloody shanks from runnin’ straight into one pretending to be dead.” Thao gained control of the situation again, glaring at Minho as she did so.

“The griever started to chase us and we had to shucking run for it. Minho got the idea to run it off the Cliff, just as another one started tailin’ us. We sent them over the edge, and the two manly men cried like babies for the next hour. Damn Shanks.”   
“Wow, I’m really glad I’m not a Runner.” Audrey mumbled, scooting closer to Newt, who happily wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I don’t think I could do that. You are all a lot tougher than me. And probably actually enjoy running. Not for your lives maybe, but in general.”    
“Running for our lives is a lot better than standing still and dying.”    
“Okay, fair point.” Audrey shook her head and laughed a little. “I’m glad you guys made it back alive, and without too much damage anywhere. I don’t think I could’ve taken seeing any of you with the Med-Jacks again.”    
“I don’t think any of us want to be back there.”    
“Good, between Alby and the gir--- Casey, we are swamped.” Audrey mumbled, yawning quietly.    
“Two people?”    
“You try dealing with two patients you have to constantly monitor and then write up records of everyone who’s ever come in with what injury ever and only have three people working. It’s impossible.” 

“You lot ready for bed then?” Newt asked, closing his eyes and dropping his head onto Audrey’s shoulder. He tried to stifle a yawn, but it didn’t work. Minho caught sight of the yawn, and began to yawn himself, which in turn caused Audrey to yawn, and then Thao.

“That was dumb.” Thao laughed, allowing Minho to get to his feet before she made grabby hands at him. “Heeeelp.” She whined, pouting.

“Get up.” Minho rolled his eyes. She pouted again, and the boy stuck out his hands and pulled her up. Audrey and Newt got to their feet as well. “I wanna do a write up about what happens out there at night.” Minho explained as they put out the fire. 

“I’ll come with ya.” Thao smiled, stretching. The pair then headed off to the map room, while Newt led Audrey towards homestead. 


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! How are you? Hope you enjoy this chapter!  
> -Alex and Katie

The next day, Newt put Thomas in the slammer until dinner. Not a whole lot happened that day, much to everyone’s relief. Alby got released from the Med-Jacks care and had visited Thomas to talk, but other then that he seemed to be basically back to normal.

Whatever it was that had made him freak out before, it had stopped now. And Newt no longer had to be the one to make the tough decisions anymore, which took a huge weight off his shoulders. 

Newt had what he would call a day off, which really just meant he had rounds and spent the rest of his time in the Med-Jack tent with Audrey, who was looking after Casey. The girl still didn’t show any sign of waking up, other then her incoherent mumbling and her sudden ability to eat more than two bites of soup during the day. 

Newt told Alby to get Thomas from the slammer for dinner. Minho and Thao walked into supper together at the same time Thomas and Alby arrived. “Sit with us Greenie.” Minho called, patting the bench beside him. Thomas sent them a smile, and the five kids tucked into dinner together. 

“You ready for tomorrow, shank?” Newt asked him through a mouthful of roast beef. 

“I’m pretty excited yeah. To run, that is, not to babysit these two  _ shanks. _ ” Thomas gestured to Minho and Thao, who looked thoroughly offended. Audrey and Newt burst out laughing, nearly choking on their dinners. 

“You’re bloody awesome.” Newt managed after they had calmed down. Thomas smiled, taking a huge bite of potatoes.

“ _ This _ is bloody awesome.” He told them, pointing at his plate. They finished eating and went to join in the bonfire. Thomas seemed to have loosened up, and was soon drinking Gally’s juice almost as much as Minho. 

They went to bed that night, the stars shining brightly above. They pulled the blankets over themselves, tucking in for the night. They whispered their version of good nights, all of them too hung up on the juice to form proper words. 

\------

Minho woke a few mornings later, and headed to the pee pots. The second he left homestead, he knew something was wrong. At first he thought he might have woken up too early, and the sun wasn’t shining, and the blue sky wasn’t out. He looked to the sky to find it grey. It was odd, it didn’t look like the sky, more like a ceiling. He immediately ran back in to Newt and the others.    
“Guys!” He whispered as he approached the corner the group had claimed as their own. “Wake up, ya have to see the shucking sky!” 

‘What time is it?” Audrey grumbled from under her blanket, snuggling against Newt.    
“Nearly breakfast, but something's wrong.” This got everyone’s attention, and the other three quickly got to their feet. “I told you shanks, the sun is gone and a ceiling’s in its place.”    
“If they sun is gone, or blocked out of whatever… the plants and animals will die off with it eventually. Their cutting off our food supplies, leaving us to die if we don't find a way out.”    
“Well then I’ll find Thomas and we’ll head out for the day.”    
“I’m coming with you. “ Thao comments, taking off after Minho as he runs to where Thomas and Chuck are.    
“Thomas! Quit your leisure time with time with Chuck here and let’s get going. We’re already late!”  Minho called across the field. Thomas looked over at him, startled, and looked back at the sky.

“You’re still going out there?” Chuck asked, surprised. Thomas wore a confused expression, but looked as if he was trying to hide it. 

“Of course we are.” Thao snapped, crossing her arms.

“Don’t you have some sloppin’ to do?” Minho shot at the young boy, who turned beet red and darted off in the other direction. “Let’s go greenie, quick breakfast, and then we’re out there for the day.”

The trio walked to the kitchen, grabbing a few bites of oatmeal, before running off to the map room. “This is nuts, what’s going on with the shuckin’ sky?” Thao mumbled, grabbing a t-shirt from a nearby wall. She started to pull up her normal shirt, when she paused and looked up at Thomas. “Just gonna stare, Shank?” She laughed lightheartedly, and continued to strip her shirt.

Minho nearly laughed out loud when Thomas turned away quickly, face beet red. Minho looked up and caught Thao’s eye, sending a smirk in her direction. She smiled back, continuing to change. Minho shameless watched her, nearly forgetting to get changed himself. 

She looked over at him, raising her eyebrows. He gave her an innocent looked, winking as he grabbed his runnie undies. “Let’s get going guys.”

\---------

They saw the Griever before they’d even made it to the door leading from Section Eight to Section One. Minho and Thao were a few feet ahead of Thomas. They’d just rounded a corner to the when they slammed to a stop, Thao nearly making Minho fall over. Seconds later Minho had jumped back and grabbed Thomas by the shirt, pushing him against the wall. 

“Shh,” Minho whispered. “There’s a freaking Griever up there.” 

“It’s just sitting up there-- almost like that dead one you saw.” Thoa said after she had checked around the corner for it again.    
“It is coming towards us?” Thomas asked with a slightly panicky 

“No, idiot--- She just told us it was sitting there.” Minho grunted, trying to come up with any sort of plan. 

“Well? What do we do?” Thomas raised his hands to his side in frustration.    
“We have to go that way to get to our section. Let’s just watch it a while--if it comes after us, we’ll run back to the Glade.” Minho decided, before looking over the wall again. 

Thomas took a deep, shaky breath, biting his lip. Thao smiled to herself. She adored the boy. He had a puppy-dog innocence that gave Thao the urge to protect the kid at all costs. She reached out and put a comforting hand on Thomas’ shoulder, as Minho peeked around the corner again.

“Crap- it’s gone! Come on!” Minho whispered, nearly dragging the pair off their feet in order to follow the griever. For the next ten minutes, Minho led the pair through the maze, slowing at every turn to check. Thomas had a concentrated, but fearful look on his face; Thao wanted to hug him. Minho ran with determination, and although it was beyond attractive, the way he led them on some wild goose chase with such confidence, Thao hoped he had some sort of plan.

This time, when Minho came to an abrupt stop, Thao really did make him fall over. In front of them was the griever, balancing on the cliff’s edge. They held their breaths, not daring to move. The griever suddenly spun itself off the edge of the cliff, disappearing into the shadows.

“That settles it.”   
“Settles what?” Thomas asked.    
“We’ve seen it three times now. Something’s up.”    
“Yeah.”    
“What?”    
“That dead griever I found, it ran this way, and we never saw it come back or go deeper into the maze. Then those suckers we tricked into jumping past us.”    
“Tricked?” Thao snorted. “Maybe not such a trick.”    
“Hmm..Anyway, then this.” Minho pointed out at the abyss. “Not much doubt anymore--- Somehow the grievers can leave the Maze this way. Looks like magic, but so does the sun disappearing.”    
“If they can leave this way,” Thomas started, following Minho’s line of reasoning.    
“We should be able to as well, yeah we know Thomas. But we don't know what is on the other side of that thing. If we just jump in, be could become a Grievers next meal.” Thao finished.    
“Got any better ideas?” Thomas asked, looking slightly annoyed.    
“One thing at a time, Greenie. Let’s get some rocks and test this place out. There has to be some kind of hidden exit.” 

The three quickly scrabbled around the Maze, picking up as many loose stones as possible. They got even more when they thumped against the cracks of the walls, spilling broken chunks onto the ground. When they finally had a sizeable pile, they hauled it over right next to the edge and took a seat, feet dangling over the side. 

“All right, we gotta take good notes. And memorize it in out shucking heads too. If there is some kind of optical illusion hiding an exit from this place, I don't wanna be the one who screws up when the first shank tries to jump into it.” Minho pulled out his pad and pencil, placing them on the ground next to him.    
“That shank oughtta be the Keeper of the Runners,” Thomas said, trying to make a joke. “You’d wanna hold on to one beauty of a rope.”    

The trio spent the next twenty minutes zigzagging rocks across the abyss. Minho sketched their progress on the paper, and Thao thought it looked like gibberish. All the rocks fell, disappearing into the darkness, but not in the same way the grievers had. Whereas the grievers had seemingly vanished, the rocks were just falling out of sight.  _ This is stupid, what are we doing. _

“I feel like a giant mass of blah.” Thomas admitted, discouragement evident all over his face. Minho threw another rock, looking as if he felt the same. This time, however, the rock disappeared. Thao gasped, moving right to the edge of the cliff.

She picked up another chunk of wall, and threw it near the area the previous rock had hit. It disappeared too. “Guys, what the shuck is it?” 

“I dunno. How did we miss that before? It’s not like we haven’t thrown stuff off the edge before.” Minho answered, tossing another rock in the area. Thomas stayed quiet, throwing a few more rocks. Minho drew out the area where the rocks disappeared, while Thao and Thomas threw the rocks. 

“It’s kind of small.” Thomas commented, looking over MInho’s shoulder at the drawing. 

“Hows this possible, dude?” Minho wondered, taking a glance towards Thao. Her skipped a beat, when she saw hope, real  _ hope _ , in his eyes. “What’re we looking at?” 

“Like you said, it’s not magic. Must be something like our sky turning gray. Some kind of optical illusion or hologram, hiding a doorway.” Thomas commented, before adding “This place is all jacked up.”    
“Yeah, jacked up is right. Come on, better get as much of the Maze run as we can. Who knows what shucked up things will happen following out newly decorated sky.” Thao said, packing up her things quickly. 

“Good that. We’ll tell Newt and Alby about this tonight. Don't know how it helps, but at least we know now where the shuck Grievers go.” Minho agreed, throwing his pack on again.    
“And probably where they come from,” Thomas said, taking one last look at the hidden doorway. “The Griever Hole.”    
“Yeah, good as name as any. Let’s go.” Minho said, before the three took off a minute later. 

They found nothing but stone walls and ivy, Which didn’t come as much of a surprise to Minho. He figured they wouldn’t be finding an exit. 

“Should we stay overnight?” Thomas asked, mindlessly running his hand over the viney walls as they decided to head back. 

“Not yet dude.” Thao told him, securing her pack tightly around her shoulders. 

“Maybe one day shank, but not tonight.” Minho agreed, watching Thao as she fiddled with her tings.  _ Why are you so hot? _ He asked her through his mind, pretending he could do whatever it was Newt had said Thomas and Casey could do. 

“Whatcha starin’ at shuckface?” Thao asked, throwing him a small smile.

“Thomas’ fine ass.” Minho laughed, winking at the greenie. Thomas turned bright red, which caused some laughs to erupt from Thao. 

“Don’t worry about this slinthead,” She told Thomas, slinging her arm over his shoulders. “He can’t get enough of the cute boys.” They started their trip back, looking up at the dull sky. Thao led them through section 6, and this time it wasn’t Thomas’ ass that Minho was staring at.  _ Pull yourself together man. _ He shook his head.

They arrived back in the Glade, only to find a dead, dim feeling hung in the air. “Shuck.” Minho whispered, dragging the pair towards the map room. “Let’s get this done quick, then we’ll go tell Newtie boy about our grand discovery.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment to let us know what you think!


	20. Chapter 20

“What am I looking for?” Thomas asked Minho as the asian boy came to look at his finished Map drawing.   
  
“Patterns. But looking at two day’s worth isn’t gonna tell you jack. You really need to study several weeks, look for patterns, anything. I know there’s something there, something that’ll help us. Just can’t find it yet. Like I said, it sucks.” Minho informed the boy, before letting him get back to work as he moved to check on Thao.   
  
“We can always come back and study our butts off after dinner, after we talk to Newt and Alby.” Thao suggested, and both boys quickly moved to pack up the papers in the trunk. 

“Okay, let's go.” Thomas said as Thao opened the door, only to have Newt and Alby standing right on the other side.   
  
“Hey” MInho said. “We were just---”   
  
“Get on with it.” Alby interrupted. “Ain't got time to waste. Find anything? Anything?”   
  
“Nice to see you, too.” Minho shot back, looking slightly confused. “Yeah we did find something actually.”   
  
Alby looked disappointed. “Cuz this whole shuck place is fallin’ to pieces.” He shot Thomas a nasty glare as if it were all his fault. 

“What do you mean?” Thao asked, glancing at Minho with a worried expression. “What else happened?”   
  
“The bloody box. It finally went down and came back up, but there was no supplies. It was just empty. Two years that things been coming up every week, same time, same day.”   
  
“Oh, we’re shucked for good now.” Minho whispered. 

“No sun for the plants, no supplies from the bloody box and we’re already running low on what we have left. Yeah, I’d say we’re shucked all right.” 

“Yeah, anyway,” Minho continued, pulling the attention back to the trio’s discovery. “We found something weird.”   
  
“What?” Newt asked, eyebrows raised. Minho took a full three minutes to explain, starting with the Griever they followed and ending with the results of their rock throwing experiment.   
  
“Must lead to where the...ya know… Grievers live.” He said when he finally finished.   
  
“They Griever hole.” Thomas added, before earning himself four slightly annoyed looks. 

“Gotta bloody see that for myself.” Newt said. Then muttered, “Hard to believe.” Minho watched Newt carefully. There was no shucking way that boy would ever want to go back into the maze. The last two times he’d been in there, either himself, or Minho, lay bleeding out on the floor.

Newt seemed to register Minho’s confusion at his words, sending Minho a slight shrug before turning back to Thao. “So, what do we do about it?” 

“Build something?” Minho suggested, drawing the attention back to himself.

“Not buggin’ likely, those bloody things can climb the freaking walls.” Newt reminded him with his signature eye-roll-arms-crossed look that he saved for Minho’s dumbest moments. Minho was just about to send a sassy retort back at his best friend, when the door swung open, and Chuck came stumbling in. 

“What?” Newt asked the kid, seeming deeply offended that this kid would walk in on their secret meeting.

“The girl’s awake!” He yelled, basically bouncing where he stood. Minho glanced around at the group excitedly. Newt and Thao looked worried. Alby showed no emotion, as per usual, as he stared at the young boy. Thomas looked confused and scared, and was clutching at his skull.  _ Shank. _

A few minutes later, Newt, Minho, Thao and Alby all burst into the Med-Jack tent and looked around for the coma girl. “Audrey? Jeff? Clint?” Newt called, limping his way to the girl’s room to find it empty.   
  
“Guys! What are you all doing here?” Audrey asked as she came out from the back room, before noticing the empty bed. “What the hell? Where is she?”   
  
“Who was suppose to be watching her?”   
  
“Jeff!” Audrey called, and the boy appeared a few seconds later.   
  
“I was just about to go find you. I went to take a piss outside and when I came back she was gone.”   
  
“Shuck. Jeff you should’ve gotten me to cover for you.” Audrey sighed, before looking back at the others. “Come on, let's go find her then.”   
  
“Hey, anyone see where Thomas took off to?” Newt asked a few seconds later, finally noticing they were short a person.   
  
“No, so let's go find them both.” 

\------ 

Newt was the first one to think of checking in the forest. He had gotten a pretty good head start from everyone else, and could make out two figures in the trees.    
“How in the…” He said as he pulled up in front of Thomas and the girl. “How’d you get here? Med-Jack said you were there one second and buggin gone the next.” 

The girl stood up with a surprising amount of confidence for someone who just woke up in the Glade. “Guess he forgot to tell you the little part about me kicking him in the groin and climbing out the window.” 

Newt turned to look at Jeff, whose face had turned bright red. “Congrats Jeff, you’re officially the first guy here to get your butt beat by a girl. Well, one that’s been out cold for the past few days.”    
  
“Keep talking and you’ll be next.” She- or Casey, snarled, crossing her arms. Newt looked at her calmly.  _ She’s just scared _ , Audrey would tell him.  _ Don’t take it personally. _ He gazed at Thomas, wondering what the boy knew. Alby suddenly broke, giving Thomas a good shove.

“I wanna know who the two of you shanks are, and how you know each other.” He sneered, taking an assertive step towards Thomas. Newt watched as Minho threw out his arm, holding Alby’s shoulder to stop him.

“I don’t know-” Thomas tried to say, before Alby reared on Casey. 

“What did you do?” Alby’s eyes were dark with anger, his breathing heavy and distorted. Newt was glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of the outburst. 

“I triggered The Ending. Not on purpose, I swear.” She answered calmly.

Newt suddenly had a vision of a young girl, maybe nine, with a crazed look in her eyes. She was talking, and although Newt couldn’t make out what she was saying, he knew it was terrifying. The voice was calm, just like Casey’s, and it made chills run up and down Newt’s spine. She walked closer to him, and opened her mouth letting out an ear piercing scream. 

Newt glanced around at the others, who all seemed unfazed. It seemed- it seemed like a  _ memory _ . “Something’s wrong.” He gasped, catching Minho’s eye.

“Shucking right it is, do you guys realise what time it is?” Alby asked, gesturing around wildly. Leave it to Alby to be worried about getting to bed on time. Newt watched as Minho’s eyes went wide and filled with fear. Newt followed his gaze and felt his heart stop dead.

The shucking walls were wide open.

Alby pointed to Casey. “I want her locked up. Now. Billy! Jackson! Put her in the Slammer, and ignore every word that comes out of her shuck mouth.” 

“What’re you talking about? Alby, you can’t----” Thomas started, before Alby’s fiery eyes shot  a look of anger. “But… how could you possibly blame her for the walls not closing?” 

Newt stepped up, lightly placed a hand on Alby’s chest and pushed him back. “How could we not, Tommy? She bloody admitted it herself.” 

Thomas turned to look at Casey, paled at the sadness in her blue eyes.  

“Just be glad you ain’t goin with her, Thomas.” Alby said, and gave them both one last look before leaving. Billy and Jackson, both builders, grabbed Casey by the arms and led her away. 

“Stay with her boys.” Newt called as they led the girl towards the slammer. “C’mon,” He pulled Audrey into a short hug, kissing her hair. “We need to get back, if the doors don’t close, it means all the shuckin’ grievers’ll be payin’ us a visit.” 

Audrey glanced back at Thomas, beckoning him along. “Come, Thomas. She’ll be okay.” Newt reached down and intertwined his and Audrey’s fingers, pulling her to his side.  _ Please be safe. I shucking love you. Please, please, please be safe tonight. _ He whispered to her through his mind, as if she could hear him. He squeezed her hand, trying to convey the same message, which worked a whole lot better.


	21. Chapter 21

The next thirty minutes were an eruption of mass confusion. Newt and Alby gathered the Keepers and put them in charge of making assignments and getting their groups inside the Homestead within the hour.    
The builders, who were all still without Gally, were ordered to put up barricades at each open Door; but everyone knew that there wasn’t going to be enough time to actually do much good.    
Every flashlight in the compound was gathered and distributed to as many people as possible; Newt said he planned for everyone to sleep in the Homestead that night, and they’d kill the lights, except for emergencies. 

Frypan’s task was to take all the nonperishable food out of the kitchen and store it in the Homestead, in case they got trapped there. Thao could only imagine how horrible that’d be. Everyone crammed up into the Homestead, no way out and no toilets either. If they did get trapped, it would be almost worse than being out in the open with the damned Grievers.    
She quickly shook her head and returned to helping Minho move the weapons from the basement to the main building. Alby had made it perfectly clear that the Homestead would become their fortress, and everyone would do whatever it took to defend it. 

Thomas began helping a few minutes later, taking some knifes and barbed wire-wrapped clubs from both Thao and Minho to lighten the load.    
“Thomas, Thao and I have a special assignment from Newt, so we need to get started on that now. Go find him or Chuck. We have to go.” Minho informed the kid a few minutes later, basically telling him to get lost. 

Thao watched as the boy sauntered away, head hung low. “You could have been a tad nicer, he’s your friend.” She pointed out. He grabbed her wrist and started to pull her away from homestead, towards the map room. “What kind of special assignment is this anyways?” She questioned, figuring Newt had nothing to do with this. 

He led her into the room, and down to the basement. She followed him, noticing the way he turned in on himself as he walked, almost sheltering himself from the horrors which were about to come. “We should bring some of them to the homestead.” He suggested, pointing at the swords and bows that lined the walls. 

“Good that.” She walked over to the wall of swords, admiring them. “Is it bad, that while everyone is panicking up there, fearing for their lives, I feel completely safe in this little room?” She asked, running her hand along the blade of her favorite sword. It had a rusting handle, and was slightly shorter than the rest, but it was the sharpest they had.

“I wish I could just lock the door and stay in here with you forever.” He answered, picking up a pair of throwing knives and tucking them into his belt.

“And leave Audrey and Newt to die?” Thao laughed, holding the sword in her hands and walking over to him. “On your knees, shank.” She commanded with a smirk.

“Ooooh, I’m so scared.” He held his hands up in mock surrender as he sank to his knees. “Maybe you should be the one on your knees. That way you could-” She cut him off by slicing the sword through the air, smirking at him. 

“This is a time of war, Minho. It is very important that we have warriors.” She told him, tapping the sword on one of his shoulders. “Therefore, I am knighting you,” She tapped it on his other shoulder, and brought it back to her side. “So you can be my knight in shining armour, and all that klunk.”

He laughed, rising to his feet and pulling her towards him by her waist. “You’re ridiculous, Thao. I’m so shuckin’ scared, but i’m gonna protect your sorry ass at all costs.” He pulled her closer, crashing their lips together. 

When they broke apart, they both moved to gather as many weapons as they could carry before heading back towards the Homestead. When they reached it, it was packed full. Everyone that slept outside in normal times was packed into the room along with those who slept inside and it was a tight fit. Blankets and pillows were everywhere, and everyone was in a frenzy to get organized. 

“Minho! Thao!” Audrey called when she saw them, making her way over. “Newt and the others are upstairs, C’mon.” She grabbed them both and pulled them up the stairs, and into the small room that held Newt, Alby and Thomas.    
“Closest I’ve come so far,” Newt was saying, “to hangin it all up. Shuck it and kiss a Griever goodnight. Supplies cut, bloody gray skies, walls not closing. But we can’t give up, and we all know it. The buggers who sent us here either want us dead or they’re givin us a spur. This or that, we gotta work our arses off till we’re dead or not dead.” Newt turned to give the three entering a small smile before turning to Alby. “Are you gonna pitch in?”    
Alby looked up, surprise crossing his face as if he hadn’t known that anyone else was in the room. “Huh? Oh. Yeah. Good that. But you’ve seen what happens at night. Just because Greenie the freaking superboy made it doesn’t mean the rest of us can.”    
“I’m with Thomas and Newt. We gotta quit boohooing and feeling sorry for ourselves.” Minho said, rubbing his hands together and sitting forward in the chair he had just sat in. “Tomorrow morning, first thing, you guys can assign teams to study maps full time while Runners go out. We’ll pack our stuff shuck-full so we can stay out there a few days.”    
“What?” Alby asked, his voice finally showing some emotion. “What do you mean days?” 

“He means days. With open Doors and no sunset, there’s no point in coming back here, anyways. It’s time we stayed out there and see if anything opens up when the walls move. If they still move.” Thao answered from behind him, resting her hands on the back of Minho’s chair. He tilted his head back, and sent her a quick, genuine smile. His lips were still red from the basement.

“No.” Alby argued, his face held a look of anger and frustration that he seemed to save for the runners these days. “That’s sucked up. You can’t ask people to go out there and die!” He stressed, looking wildly between the three runners.  _ What do ya think they’ll be doing in here, picking daisies? _ Thao wanted to argue, but decided to bite her tongue for once. “Who’d volunteer for a death mission like that anyways?” 

“Me.” A quiet voice spoke up from the back of the room.  _ Audrey _ . “And Newt.” He nodded. “Thao, Thomas, and Minho too. We’re all prepared to fight for this Alby.” She assured him, crossing her arms defiantly. 

“Whatever.” Alby furrowed his eyebrows, concentrating strictly on the floor and avoiding all eye contact. “Do what ya want. Go kill yourselves for all I care.” Thao felt rage and fear bubble in her stomach as she glanced at Newt, who was about three shades paler. “I shouldn’t be the shuckin’ leader anymore.” 

“What?” She asked dumbly, in disbelief as to what Alby had just said. 

“You guys make the decisions now. Put be in charge of the maps, I’ll work ‘em to the bone.” Alby decided, rising to his feet. Minho gave him a nod of agreement, and Thao had the sudden urge to kiss the shank again. “I’m going there now.”

“No, you’re bloody not.” Newt argued, holding a hand out to stop Alby, who only pushed it away. “The grievers are probably already here.”

“I need to do this, Newt, I can’t just sit around and do nothing. See you shanks in the morning.” And with, that, he left the room, leaving them in a frightened silence. 

“Well then.” Thomas sighed, sitting down at the edge of the bed.

“We should try to get some rest.” Audrey suggested, sitting beside Thomas on the bed. “There’s not a whole lot more we can do now anyways, except wait.” The others seemed to nod in agreement, before trying to settle themselves. Thick blankets were thrown on the ground to be used as a makeshift bed, since the Homestead only had so many. 

No one said much, the mood somber and grim. All they could hear were quiet shuffles and whispers. Everyone knew sleep wasn’t going to come easy, especially with the knowledge that the Grievers would be right outside the Homestead.

Thao, Minho and Thomas were sharing one of the bigger makeshift blanket beds, nearly body to body with every other glader in the room. Newt and Audrey had gotten the bed, for some reason unknown to Thao.  _ Probably because they're too damn cute to fight against for it… _ She thought, shaking her head before shifting over onto her side to give both boys on either side of her more room.    
Almost everyone had a flashlight by their side in case of emergency. Otherwise, Newt had ordered all lights extinguished despite the pale, deathly glow of their new sky-- No sense attracting any more attention than necessary. Anything that could be done on such short notice to prepare for a Griever attack had been done: windows boarded up, furniture moved in front of doors, knives handed out as weapons…. The anticipation of what might happen was overpowering, a suffocating blanket of misery  and fear that began to take on a life of its own. 

The waiting was unbearable.    
The distant wails of the Grievers grew closer as the night stretched on, every minute seeming to last longer than the one before it. Hours past, and Thao knew she wouldn’t be getting a single moment of sleep that night, whether she wanted to or not.      
Then everything changed.     
A mechanized surge of machinery sounded from outside, followed by the familiar rolling clicks of a Griever on the stony road, as if someone had scattered a handful of nails. Thao jumped to her feet, a pair of strong arms pulling her back from the window. She reached out, and yanked Audrey from the bed, pushing her against the wall with the other gladers. 

Newt was standing by the window, finger pressed to his lips, carefully peering outside. Thomas tiptoed over to him, and crouched to look through the gap between two of the lower boards. Minho and Thao took a step forward, his hand still on her waist. It was an unbelievably calming gesture.

Newt made his way back over to the edge of the bed and sat down. He winced as he adjusted his shuck-leg. Thao knew it was always stiff after he woke up. The group stayed standing for roughly four minutes, dead silence thick in the air. The clicks continued to ring out, every few seconds, and Thao didn’t think her heart had ever beaten this fast. Except maybe that one time Minh-

The grievers were right outside the window, waiting for them. The metallic sounds were loud and taunting, and Thao felt Minho’s grip loosen on her waist as he took a step past her towards the window. She followed carefully, her hand on his lower back. She knew Audrey was probably right behind her, and she wanted to turn around and hide her. 

Audrey gasped as they heard the sounds of the grievers stabbing their spikes into the homestead. Thao instinctively grabbed Minho’s shirt, pulling him slightly closer.  _ Breathe _ . She reminded herself, loosening her hand on his shirt.  _ You’ve fought enough shuckin’ grievers.  _

The sounds grew louder, and Thomas and Newt began to back towards the other gladers. 

Just when it grew unbearable, and everyone realized the Griever was right outside the window, everything fell silent. 

Lights flickered out there casting odd beams through the cracks between the wooden boards. Then a thin shadow interrupted the light, moving back and forth. The Griever’s probes and weapons had come out, searching for a feast. Everyone seemed to suck in a breath at the same time, pressing up against the wall and remaining as still as possible. 

A few seconds later the shadow stopped, the light settled to a standstill, casting three unmoving planes of brightness into the room. Thao saw and felt Audrey tighten her grip on Newt’s hand, and her own shoulder. This was the closest she’d ever been to a Griever, and it was obvious she didn’t appreciate it very much. 

The tension in the air was thick, and it was as if everyone in the Homestead had stopped breathing. No one moved, or made a single sound. Everyone was frozen in place, when the door from the hallway suddenly whipped open. Gasps and shouts exploded from throughout the room, everyone in a panic. No one had prepared for anything to happen from behind them, the Grievers were outside the window.    
But no, standing in the door frame wasn’t a Griever, or even someone like Chuck who had run scared to find Thomas. 

It was Gally. His eyes raged with lunacy; his clothes were torn and filthy. He dropped to his knees and stayed there, his chest heaving with deep, sucking breaths. He looked about the room like a rabid dog, searching for someone to bite. No one said a word. 

“They’ll kill you!” Gally screamed, spit flying everywhere. “The Grievers will kill you all.-- one every night till it’s over.” He staggered to his feet and walked forward, dragging his right leg with a heavy limp. 

No one in the room moved a muscle as they watched, obviously too stunned to do anything. Thao knew she was. Even Newt stood mouth agape.    
“You,” Gally said, pointing to Thomas with a bloody finger. “It’s all your fault.” He lunged forward and connected his fist with Thomas’ ear, knocking him off balance. He stumbled back into Audrey, who just barely caught him and pulled him to his feet. Newt surged forward and shoved Gally, causing him to crash into the desk by the window. 

“Stop!” Thao screeched, barely registering her words as she grabbed Newt and pulled him back to the group. Gally straightened himself, but instead of lunging forward, he began to mumble words that sounded like utter nonsense.

She stepped towards him, ignoring Minho’s protest. She caught a few words and phrases such as ‘one a night’ ‘kill all you shanks’ and something about ‘variables.’ She approached the boy, who didn’t look like he was aware of anything going on around him. 

“Gally.” She whispered, standing right in front of the boy. She had never seen such a mix of emotion on a person’s face. He looked young, scared, and full of innocence, biting his lip and wringing his hands together. His eyes, on the other hand, held anger, panic, and wildness. He looked terrifying. “Talk to me, bud, what’s wrong?” She reached out and grabbed his arm.

His eyes snapped to hers, the anger disappeared, and a look of curiosity remained. “Everything.” He answered, staring at her deeply. 

“C’mon, come away from the window.” She whispered, pulling his arm. He stumbled forward slightly, before his eyes flashed back to their previous anger. “Gally-?” 

“You’re stupid! You’re all stupid!” He yelled, shoving her hard. She stumbled backwards, and fell into a pair of arms. She stood up and turned to find Newt staring at her with a mix of fear, sadness, and warning. She looked back at Gally to see him running to the window.

Before anyone else had time to react, he had already ripped one board free, throwing it to the ground, tearing at the next like a wild animal trying to escape a cage. 

“No!” Newt yelled, running past Thao and towards him. Gally ripped off the second just as Newt reached him, swinging it backwards with both hands and connected it with Newt’s head, sending him sprawling across the bed as a small spray of blood sprinkled the sheets. Audrey was beside him two seconds later, quickly attending to the wound.    
“Gally!” Thomas yelled. “What are you doing?”    
The boy spat on the ground, panting like a winded dog. “You shut your shuck-face, Thomas. You shut up! I know who you are, but I don’t care anymore. I can only do what’s right.” Thao watched as the boy reached back and ripped the final board from its place, leaving the window exposed. The instant the discarded slab hit the floor of the room, the glass of the window exploded inward like a swarm of crystal wasps. Everyone ducked and covered their faces, falling to the ground in order to try and protect themselves. 

A Griever’s pulsating, bulbous body had squirmed halfway through the destroyed window, metallic arms with pincers snapping and clawing in all directions. Almost everyone had retreated to the hallway, and just Thao, Minho, Thomas, Audrey and an unconscious Newt were left. And Gally.    
Thao watched as one of the Griever’s long arms started towards Newt and Audrey, panic exploding within her. That thing was going to get her friends, and there wasn’t any ways she could really help them right now. All the weapons left were knives, and they’d be useless against the metal arm.    
“No one ever understood!” Gally shouted, the griever pulling back its arm as if it needed to be able to observe and listen. But it’s body kept churning, trying to squeeze it’s way inside. “No one ever understood what I saw, what the Changing did to me! Don’t go back to the real world! You… don’t….want… to remember.” Gally gave a long hunted look, his eyes filled with terror, before turning and diving onto the writhing body of the Griever. People shouted as they watched, Thao nearly jumping after him as the extended arm of the monster immediately retracted and clasped onto Gally’s arms and legs, making escape or rescue impossible.  

Gally fell onto the creature’s body, and the griever disappeared back through the window. Thomas and Thao ran to the window, sure the other’s were right behind them. They watched as the griever carried Gally into the maze. They other creatures that littered the Glade began clicking and whirling, following and disappearing into the maze. Thao could feel Thomas shaking beside her, and she reached out to put her arm around his shoulders. 

Less than five seconds later, a shape could be seen running across the Glade. Thao suddenly felt violently ill. She heard Thomas scream from beside her, but it was too late. Minho had already disappeared into the maze. 

Thomas run out of the room, and Thao was close behind. While Thomas began running to the open door Minho had just left through, Thao fell to her knees, throwing up the contents of her stomach. She looked up to see Audrey and Chuck stop Thomas, preventing him from following Minho into the maze. 

A cold hand squeezed her shoulder, and she felt a body kneel next to hers. She sat back on her knees, and leaned into Newt, who was holding a bloody towel to his head. “Dumb shanks, the both of ‘em.” He laughed, wincing slightly. “It hurts like a mother.”

“It’s bleeding like a mother, too.” She grabbed the towel and pulled it away from his scalp, to reveal the gash. “That’ll make into a nice scar, dude.” She laughed, dabbing at the blood dripping down his face. “I think I’ll stay away from boys, from now on.” She admitted, trying to ignore the possibilities of why Minho ran in there, and what was happening to him now.

“Good that. All the ones you seem to fall for don’t seem to got any bloody brain cells left.” He laughed again, wincing less dramatically. “I was going to kill him, but I think I might let you do the honors.” 

“Thanks dude, I’d really like more blood on my hands.” She laughed, gesturing to the literal blood that coated her hands. “Ya should get this stitched up.” 

“Auds said the same thing, before making Jeff and Clint to go get the supplies with her. But we’ve got bigger problems. “Somebody---” He started to explain, before he was cut off by Thomas.    
“There he is!” Minho had just turned a corner up ahead and was coming straight for them. “What were you doing, idiot!”    
Minho waited until he made it back through the Door, then bent over, hands on his knees, and sucked in a few breaths before answering. “I just…wanted to...make sure.”    
“Make sure of what?” Newt asked, getting up from his spot beside Thao angrily. “Lotta good you’d be, taken with Gally.”    
Minho straightened and put his hands on his hips, still breathing heavily. “Slim it. I just wanted to see if they went towards the Cliff. Toward the Griever Hole.”    
“And?” Thao snapped, also raising to her feet, arms crossed.    
“Bingo.” Minho wiped the sweat from his forehead.    
“I just can’t believe it,” Newt said, almost whimpering. “What a night.”    
“What were you saying before this slinthead showed up? We have bigger problems?” Thao asked, turning to look at the british boy.    
“Yeah.” Newt pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “You can still see the buggin smoke.” 

Everyone looked in that direction. The heavy metal door of the Map Room was slightly ajar, a wispy trail of black smoke drifting out and into the gray sky.    
“Somebody burned the Map trunks.” Newt said. “Every last one of ‘em”    
Thomas left to go check on Casey, leaving everyone else to investigate the sabotage of the Map Room without him. Audrey had noticed Thao, Minho and Newt exchange an odd look before they split up, communicating secrets with their eyes. She followed after Newt and Thao, wanting to help them anyway she could.    
“Is that Alby?” Thao asked, pointing just outside the metal door to a body that was still pouring out black smoke.    
“Shuck.” Newt mumbled, sprinting over and kneeling over him. Audrey went around to his other side and started to examine him. He had a huge gash of his forehead, blood seeping down both sides of his head, some into his eyes.    
“We’ll need a cloth and uh.. stuff. I’ll go find some.” She answered after making sure that was his only injury. 

Newt nodded in response, trying to process everything before reaching out and grabbing her wrist. “Wait. Take someone with you.”    
“Newt it’s two minutes away. I’ll be fine.” Audrey shook her head, looking over at Thao.  _ Just take someone, it’ll make everything so much easier…  _ She thought, shaking her head.    
“I’ll go with her, C’mon.” Thao sighed, volunteering herself to go. The pair ran to the med jack tent, shaking with individual fears. 

“What’s going on?” Audrey breathed, tears forming in her eyes. “Everyone is acting crazy, people are dying. What did Gally mean about ‘one a night’? Does that mean it’ll happen all over again tomorrow?” 

“Probably.” Thao answered shortly, gathering up some supplies. The pair walked back to the door and started jogging towards the group.

“I’m sorry Minho is such a shuckface. That was a dumb thing to do.” Audrey tried, just before they reached the group.

“Tell me about it.” When the pair arrived back, they found Minho and Newt missing, and Alby lying alone, still bleeding heavily. “Those shanks better be somewhere good.” Thao groaned, cleaning up some of the blood on Alby’s forehead. 

“I’m really scared.” Came a small voice. The girls spun around to see Chuck with tears streaming down his face. 

“We all are.” Audrey told him, working on Alby. 

“Come here Shank.” Thao beckoned the kid over, pulling him into a hug. “It’s okay to be scared. Everyone is scared. Bravery is about what you do with that fear.” She explained, handing him some bandages. “Help me fix him up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, hope you liked it. We're going to be going back to Tuesday and Friday uploads from now on!  
> -Alex and Katie


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love you all <3

“We hid the maps, Tommy.” Newt told the boy after letting Casey out of the Slammer. Both Thomas and her had gone on a rant about how the maps were a code, and eventually Minho and Newt had to tell them.   
  
“Huh?”   
  
Minho pointed at the Homestead as he saw Audrey and Thao making their way towards them. “We hid the freaking Maps in the weapons room, put dummies in their place. Because of Alby’s warning. And because of the so-called ending your girlfriend triggered.”   
  
“So the special assignment Newt gave you yesterday?” Thomas asked when the girls finally reached them.   
  
“What special assignment?” Audrey asked, moving to give Newt a hug for the first time that night… day. He wasn’t sure which it was anymore, and the gray sky wasn’t any help.   
  
“Hiding all the real maps in the weapons room. They’re all safe and sound, every last one of those suckers. Thomas and Casey have a theory.”   
  
“Let’s go then!” Casey and Thomas insisted, making everyone else follow behind them.   
  
Minho switched on the light, making Newt squint to adjust for a second. He pulled Audrey closer to him, so revealed that she hadn’t gotten a single scratch on her yet.   
  
“There’s a hidden storage closet back here.” Minho explained, walking past some shelves into a dark corner. “Only a couple of us know about it.” 

Newt heard the wooden door creak open, and watched as Minho and Thao pulled out the cardboard boxes across the floor.   
  
“I put each trunk’s worth in it’s own box, eight boxes total. They’re all in there.”   
  
“Which one is this?” Thomas asked, kneeling down next to it.   
  
“Just open it and see-- each page is marked, remember?”   
  
“Okay.” He said, pulling out a stack. “The Runners have always compared these day to day, looking to see if there was a pattern that would somehow help figure out a way to an exit. You even said you didn’t really know what you were looking for, but you kept studying them anyways, right?”   
  
Minho nodded, arms folded. He looked as if someone was about to reveal the secret of immortal life. It almost made Newt chuckle.   
  
“Well,” Thomas said, bringing Newt’s attention back to the Maps. “what if all the wall movements had nothing to do with a map or anything like that? What if instead the pattern spelled words? Some kind of clue that’ll help us escape.”   
  
Minho and Thao snorted at the same time, shaking their heads. “Words? Did you hit your head Thomas?”   
  
“Dude, you have any idea how much we’ve studied these things? Don't you think we would’ve noticed if it were spelling out freaking words?” Minho said, letting out a frustrated sigh. 

“Maybe it’s too hard to see with the naked eye, just comparing one day to the next. And maybe you weren’t suppose to compare one day to the next but look at it one day at a time?”    
Newt laughed. “Tommy, I might not be the sharpest guy in the Glade, but sounds like you’re talking straight out your arse to me.” 

“Okay, okay.” Thomas tried to restart his point. “You’ve always had one Runner assigned to one section, right?”   
  
“More or less, yeah.” Minho answered, and looked genuinely interested to understand.   
  
“And that Runner makes a Map every day, and then compares it to the Maps from previous days, for that section. What if, instead, you were suppose to compare the eight sections to each other, every day? Each day being a separate clue or code? Did you ever compare sections to other sections?” Minho rubbed his chin, looking over at Thao and Newt. 

“Yeah, kind of.” Thao mumbled 

“We tried to see if they made something when put together--of course we did that. We’ve tried everything.” Minho sighed. 

“Wax paper.” Thomas suddenly spit out a few seconds later, looking up at everyone else.   
  
“Huh?” Minho asked, everyone else looking just as confused. “What the---”   
  
“Just trust me. We need wax paper and scissors. And every black marker and pencil you can find.” 

Once they had collected the supplies, Thomas started explaining his master plan. “Okay, Minho and Newt, can you two cut squares about the size of the maps?” The pair nodded, and grabbed a roll of wax paper each. “Girls, can you help me grab the first ten maps from each box?” 

“Arts and crafts your thing, Tommy?” Newt asked, slicing through the paper with a knife. 

“It relaxes me.” He scoffed, carrying a pile of maps over to the table. “Right,” He grabbed a black marker, the top map, and a sheet from the pile Newt was making, before sitting down at the table. “We’re going to trace these.”

“What?” Minho and Thao asked, dumbfounded. 

“Keep working, I think I know where he’s going with this.” Newt told them, handing a sheet to Audrey as she went to sit beside Thomas.  _ At least I thought I knew where he was going with this. _ He thought to himself, after they’d been tracing maps for over an hour. “I’ve had enough.” 

“My fingers hurt like a mother.” Thao complained, dropping her head onto the table with a dull thud. “Uhg.” She groaned. 

“Is it working?” Audrey asked, sliding her newly completed map to Thomas. He took the re-traced maps, and began piling them on top of each other in some order that Newt wasn’t really paying attention to. His eyes were on Audrey’s hands, which were shining silver from the graphite pencil. He walked over to the corner of the room, grabbing a towel, and brought it back to her. He silently began to wipe some of the grey away. 

“There.” Thomas declared, pointing at the pile of paper he’d made. At first, it just looked like a hopeless pile of lines, but on closer inspection, Newt saw it. The letter ‘F’.

“Man.” Minho said, glancing over at Newt and Thao. Two years they’d been working on this stupid Maze and Thomas figures something out in less than a week.    


“Could be a coincidence.” Casey said. “Do more, quick.”    


Thomas moved quickly, shuffling through another two piles and making more letters. After F, an L, then an O and so on until he was done another eight piles.    


“Look,” He said, pointing down at the line of stacks they’d formed. “It spells FLOAT and then it spells CAT.”    


“Float cat?” Newt asked, looking over the oile for the first time quickly. “Doesn’t sound like a bloody rescue code to me.” 

“We haven’t finished all of them yet.” Audrey pointed out, and Thomas nodded.    


“We just need to keep working.” He sorted through another few before CAT became CATCH. 

“Definitely not a coincidence.” Minho said.    


“We need to go through them all, all those boxes in there.” Casey pointed out, and Thomas nodded in agreement.    


“Not you shank. You, Thao and I should go out in the Maze.”    


“What? This is way more important!” Thomas protested.    


“Maybe, but we can’t miss a day out there. Not now. It’s important too ” Thao said, agreeing with Minho.

“Why? You guys said the patterns have been repeating itself for months. What’s one more day going to do?”    


Minho slammed his hand against the table. “That’s bullcrap, Thomas! Of all days, this might be the most important to get out there. Something might’ve changed, something might’ve opened up. In fact, with the freaking walls not closing anymore, I think we should try your idea-- stay out there overnight and do some deeper exploring.”    


“But what about this code? What about--”    


“Tommy.” Newt said in a consoling voice. “Minho’s right. You shanks should get out there.”    


“Yeah, Newt, Casey and I can handle the code while you check out the Maze.” Audrey smiled, agreeing with Newt and Minho.    


“See Greenie? We should get on the move.” The group decided to grab some sort of breakfast- or perhaps it was lunch- before the runners headed out. Just as he was following Minho through the door, he felt a hand grab his collar, and both boys were pulled back into the room.

“Tryna kill me?” Minho asked Thao, rubbing his neck. Newt noticed that they were the only three left in the room.

“We go out on one condition.” Thao began, clearly still furious with Minho, as she wasn’t looking at him. “And you make the final call Newt, as you’re in charge.” He nodded.  _ I know where she’s going with this. I’m totally on board. _ “I’m keeper.” She stated. It was more of a demand, than a request, and it took Minho by surprise.

“What? Why? No!” He argued, looking wildly at Newt. 

“You’re making irrational moves, Minho. A keeper needs to be levelheaded and do what’s best for the group.” She explained. “You’re too lovestruck.”

“I’m not-”

“You are.” Newt agreed, putting his hand on Minho’s shoulder. “I can’t put you out there for the night, with you being overprotective Thao, and have you jeopardize the runner’s survival.”

“This is bull.” Minho tried to argue, sitting down on a half burnt chair. “I just- I want the doors to close. I want the Glade back. I’m scared.” He looked down quickly, avoiding their eyes. “This sucks. I feel like-like there’s something shucking with my brain.” He gave a small sniffle and Newt felt himself fall to his knees in front of the boy. 

“It-it’s like I just do these things without having control over it.” He admitted, holding his head in his hands. “I think something is messing with my head.” 

“I know.” The other two answered in unison. Minho looked up at them with teary eyes.

“I had this thing in my mind, like a memory. I was a terrifying memory, but I think it was real.” Newt admitted, placing his hand on Minho’s knee. 

“I’ve got voices up there.” Thao told them quietly. “I thought I was going crazy.” The trio sat in silence for a moment, the only sounds were Minho’s soft sobs.

“I’m going to let Thao be Keeper for this shuck mission, Min.” Minho nodded, and let out another sob, this time a bit louder. “It’s not because you aren’t a fantastic leader, and I don’t think you deserve it, though. I understand that these Creators are messing with us, and if they’re using mind control on you, we can’t have you leading the group.” 

“I know. I get it. This is shucking stupid. You should lock me in the slammer.” 

“Hold up there, dude. I don’t think I could last five minutes in the maze with just Thomas.” Thao laughed, pulling Minho to his feet. “Let’s go boys.”

They met up with everyone else on the top floor of the Homestead, grabbing a few of Frypan’s makeshift dinner on the main level on the way up. “There you three are.” Audrey smiled, taking a bite out of the sandwich she had. “You all okay?”    


“Fine now, Love.” Newt smiled back, walking across the room to sit beside her. “Just discussing leadership roles was all.”    


“Yeah, you’re looking at the temporary keeper of the Runners.” Thao laughed, sitting down in the open spot next to Audrey. “Minho get’s it back after today though.” 

“Congrats.” Audrey nodded, slightly confused by the news, but shrugged it off to be happy for her friend.    


“We should eat fast. Still have to shucking pack after this, before we can go out there.” Thomas said, finishing off his plate.    


“Calm down and let them eat Thomas.” Audrey scolded, shaking her head. “You three are always running off when everything always seems to just be getting back to okay. And then when you get back, all of hell has broken loose.” 

“It’s just a coincidence?” Thao tried, shrugging her shoulders. “We’ll make it back, we always have before.”    


“Before the walls use to close, and Grievers didn’t attack in the Glade.”    


“We’ll still be fine.”    


“Come back without even a tiny bruise and I’ll always believe that.” Audrey shook her head, leaning her head on Newt’s shoulder.    


“Challenge accepted.” Thao smiled, finishing up the last of Minho’s plate. “C’mon, we should get going.” 

“Seriously, you three be careful!” Audrey said as the three started towards the door, leaving Newt, Audrey and Casey behind.    


“Because being careful has gotten us so much before… It’s all or nothing now!” Minho called as he started down the stairs.   


“They’ll come back Auds. Thao was right, they always have.” Newt whispered, wrapping his arm around her as they watched their friends out the window.    


“We should get back to work too.” Casey spoke up, standing up and staring at the other two. “We have a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it.” 


	23. Chapter 23

Audrey was exhausted. She hadn’t slept in two days, had barely eaten, and the images of the maps were burnt into the back of her eyelids. She was so tired she couldn’t bring herself to cry or scream as Adam, a Glader she barely knew, was ripped from the Glade. She couldn’t bring herself to hold Newt’s hand, even though it was resting so invitingly on her thigh. She couldn’t even bring herself to make out any letters in the map they were staring at. The others were insisting it was a ‘P’, but it just looked like a giant chess board.

“I need sleep.” She admitted, her eyelids drooping. Newt squeezed her leg, and Casey sighed loudly. 

“Let’s sleep for a couple hours. Min will wake us when they get back.” Newt suggested, closing his eyes and tried to get comfortable in his chair. Within five minutes, the three kids were asleep, in a dreamless slumber.

“Wake up shuck-faces. Everyone else is out there living like it’s another damn day in the Glade, and ya three are napping.” Minho’s voice was way too loud for Audrey’s liking. “What’d ya shanks find?”

“Six bloody words. Over and over again. Float, Catch, Bleed, Death, Stiff and Push. Cheerful don’t ya think?” Newt grumbled, showing the three Runners the sheets.    


“Yeah, and we think that’s the order too. It always goes a full week without a letter after Push, and then starts back at Float.” Audrey added, when they looked confused.    


“Anything out in the Maze?” Casey asked, stretching out a little bit.    


“Nothing. The Maze is a big freaking joke.” Minho sighed.    


“He’s just discouraged.” Thomas shrugged, before turning pale.    


“Tommy?” Newt asked, stepping closer with a look of concern creasing his forehead. “What’s wrong with you? Your face just went white as a ghost.”   


“Oh...Nothing.” Thomas shook his head. “Sorry, my eyes are hurting-- I think I need some sleep.”    


“All three of you do. You were up all night.” Audrey pointed out, standing from her own chair. “After dinner, or lunch or whatever this meal is.”    


“Good that. I’m exhausted.” Thao mumbled, being the first one to head out the door for their food. Everyone followed behind, but somewhere between leaving the storage room and going to the makeshift kitchen the group lost Thomas. 

 

“Maybe he went to go check on Chuck.” Audrey shrugged as the group gathered around one of the mattresses in the far back corner of the main level. “Or sleep, he almost looked sick with how tired he was.”    


“So what happened out there? Just the same as always? Did the walls even move?” Newt asked after no one responded to Audrey’s theory.  

“No movement. Not a thing different. Except the Keeper wasn’t nearly as hot as he usually is.” Minho laughed, doubling over when Thao landed a half-hearted punch in his gut. “You’ve killed me.” He groaned, falling to his knees, and then onto his side. The others laughed, stuffing some stew in their mouths. 

“Guess now that he’s gone we can talk about how ugl-” Casey started, before Minho’s hand shot up and covered her mouth.

“Don’t be rude.” He laughed, taking a bite of the bread on Thao’s plate, which was now a few days old. The five ate quickly, their discussions filled with weak attempts at humor. Audrey felt her eyes closing again, and decided the whole Glade should get some sleep. 

“Newt, let’s get everyone into a bed.” She suggested, walking over to a few girls to tell them to turn in. Twenty minutes later, every Glader was accounted for, in the same rooms they had been in the previous two nights. Newt played with Audrey’s hair as she lay with her head on his chest. It was nearly impossible to sleep. She could hear muffled sobs, and quiet sniffles all over the room. 

“Every time I close my eyes, I get a shuck nightmare.” Newt whispered, so quiet Audrey barely heard it. 

“What are they about?”

“The Maze. My Jump. You.”

“I’m a nightmare?”

“Only sometimes.” He laughed kissing the top of her head. “You getting taken by the grievers. Or you in the maze. Or even you trying to do the same bloody thing I did to shuck up my leg.”

“I’m not going anywhere, okay? Not anywhere without you anyways.” She mumbled, and snuggled against him before hearing the same sound they had the two nights previous to this one. The Grievers were just outside again, moving around to find the best way to enter, to snatch another one of them up. 

A few minutes later, a booming explosion of ripping wood and broken glass thundered from somewhere near them, causing them both to jump up on their feet. It shook the whole house, and screams erupted, followed by the pounding of fleeting footsteps.    


“It’s got Dave!” Someone screamed, the voice high-pitched with terror. Newt and Audrey looked at each other before backing up against the wall again, having nothing to help out Dave. Thomas was on his feet and running towards the monster full speed a few seconds later, Newt shouting at him over the noise.    


“Thomas!”    


But the boy didn’t respond, and threw himself into the middle of the Grievers pack, taking them by surprise. He jumped on the one holding Dave, tried to jerk the kid free. Three others swarmed around him at once, and for a few seconds Audrey thought they were going to loose him.    


But by some miracle, he got away with only a few dozen stings and ran back towards the Homestead, the Grievers disappearing into the Maze.    


Newt and Audrey were on him in a second, immediately followed by Thao, Chuck, Minho and Casey. Newt quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him up, gripping his shoulders, while Minho dove to get his legs.    


“What were you doing?” Newt yelled, absolutely furious. “How could you be so bloody stupid?”    


“No.. Newt you don’t understand.” Thomas mumbled, already slipping into the dark. Audrey quickly pulled a Grief Serum from her bag, and jabbed it in his arm. “ Don’t worry,” he whispered seconds after. “I did it on purpose.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, only a few more chapters of ETIN!


	24. Chapter 24

Thomas screamed a lot more than the others. His whole body was covered in stings, and he did nothing but thrash around. It didn’t last as long, however, Audrey noted. He only screamed the first day, but he was out like a light the next two. On the second night, after the grievers had come,  Newt had come into the room, hot tears streaming down his face. “Zart.” He’d sobbed, before falling into her arms, shaking like a leaf.

On the third day, Thomas opened his eyes, coming face to face with Minho. “He’s awake!” Minho shouted, alerting the others to come running.

“Shut up.” Thomas groaned, wincing at Minho’s raised voice. 

“Sorry Shank, I’m so glad you’re alive, I could just kiss you!” Thomas laughed at that, and Audrey smiled at the pair.

“He’s not joking, he will actually kiss you.” A thick accent traveled through the room. Newt stood by the doorway, leaning onto the top of the frame, his arms raised, and his toned stomach exposed. He had a lopsided smirk on his face.  _ Holy shucking shuck. He is so hot. _

“Good, you’re here. You need to call a gathering.” Thomas said, moving to sit up on the bed.    


“Why? What do you remember?”    


“It’s a test, Newt. The whole thing is a test.” Thomas said, trying to move more, but Audrey wouldn’t let him. So instead Newt came into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed.    


“Like an experiment.” Newt nodded.    


“No, you don't get it. They’re weeding us out, seeing if we’ll give up, finding the best of us. Throwing variables at us, trying to make us quit. Testing our ability to hope and fight. Sending Casey here and shutting everything down was only the last part. One more final analysis. Now it’s time for the last test. To escape.” 

Newt’s brow crinkled in confusion, and he spared a quick glance at everyone else in the room. “What do you mean? You know a way out?”    
“Yeah. Call a Gathering. Now.” 

An hour later, Thomas sat in front of what was left of the Keepers. They hadn’t let Casey in, and despite Audrey already overhearing half of what Thomas had to say, she wasn’t allowed either. Both Minho and Thao were allowed in, however, since no one really understood what they should do about that issue. 

“Alright Greenie,” Alby said, looking much better as he sat in the middle of the semicircle of chairs, next to Newt. “Forget all the beat-around-the-bush klunk. Start talking.” 

Minho tired to pay attention to what Thomas was saying, he really did, but it was so hard to pay attention or that long. He listened intently as Thomas explained how he’d gotten back memories. He vaguely heard him mention something about a champion, or survivor, but it didn’t really make sense. 

He did remember Thomas telling them that they all had above-average intelligence, but he wondered how that could be true when Gally was here. He wasn’t one to judge, however, as he was shamelessly staring at the back of Thao’s head for quite sometime.

He was vaguely interested when Thomas explained that their names weren’t actually their real names, and Newt was actually named after Isaac Newton. He wondered what his real name was. 

Thomas said something about being analyzed and watched. They were just test subjects. Winston said something remotely snarky, and Minho had the urge to punch the kid. Thomas talked a lot more, but Minho was too tired to listen, he really wanted out of here. 

“Survival of the fittest.” The words tumbled out of his mouth, before he even knew what was going on. Everyone gave him a look of surprise at his sudden participation, and he gave them one right back. 

“So killing people?” Frypan asked, looking back at Thomas.

“Yes.”

“Tell us about this magical escape plan then, Thomas.” Thomas looked at rypan, biting his lip.  _ Not the damn cliff. _

“I’m not gonna like this, am I shank?” He asked Thomas, who shook his head in response.

“Probably not.” Thomas said, closing his eyes for a second and folding his arms. “The Creators want the best of us for whatever it is they have planned. But we have to earn it.” Every eye fell on him and the room was dead quiet. “The code.”    


“The code?” Frypan repeated, hope evident in his voice. “What about it?” 

“It was hidden in the wall movements of the Maze for a reason. I should know. I was there when the Creators did it.” 

“What are you talking about?” Newt asked, looking completely baffled.    


“Well, there's something I have to share. About Casey and I. There’s a reason Gally accused me of so much stuff, and why everyone who’s gone through the Changing recognizes me. Casey and I are different. We were part of the Maze Trails from the beginning, but against our will I swear it.” 

Minho spoke up first, looking over at Thomas with a confused look. “Thomas, what’re you saying?”    


“Casey and I were used by the Creators. If you had your full memories back, you’d probably want to kill us. But I had to tell you this myself to show you we can be trusted now. So you’ll believe me when I tell you the only way we can get out of here.” He took a deep breath, and Minho secretly wished the shank hadn’t mentioned being on the same side as the creators at all. “Casey and I helped design the Maze. We helped create the whole thing.”    


“What's that supposed to mean?” Newt asked. “You’re a bloody sixteen year old. How could you have created the Maze?” 

“I told you, we’re like genius or something. But that’s not most important. Casey and I… we have a gift.. a gift that made us very valuable as they designed and built this place.”    


“Speak!” Newt yelled. “Spit it out!”    


“We’re telepathic!” Everyone stared at Thomas. Minho didn’t know why but he wanted to laugh. “But it doesn’t matter, we need to escape,  _ now.”  _  Minho smiled at the kid.  _ Damn shank, I like you. _

The other boys around them agreed, questioning how, and where this escape was. “It’s in a place, a room with a computer.” Thomas explained, looking at Alby. 

“A place we’ve never looked before?”

“Yes.” 

“Well where is it?” Newt asked, cocking his head.

“It’s almost suicide.” Thomas looked over at Thao and Minho, a smirk on his face. 

“The cliff.” They all answered. 

\----------

Audrey and Casey heard the yelling from outside. Alby was the loudest, and sounded beyond angry. He was yelling at Thomas for being an idiot, and Thomas was biting back; hard. The commotion was hard to make out anymore voices through, but the girls heard Minho arguing about them ‘dying anyways’, and Alby admitted to burning the maps.

“It’s way worse out there!” They heard Alby yell, which brought loads of questions from the Keepers. 

Ten minutes passed by before anything else happened, but eventually Thomas came outside, and Audrey ran up to him. “What’s going on?”    


“I’m pretty sure if your boyfriend finishes the meeting off well, we’re getting the hell out of this place.” He mumbled before adding. “Tonight.”    


“What? So there’s a way out?”    


“Not one that anyone’s going to like to much. But yeah, there’s a way out.”    


“How?”    


“Through the damned Griever Hole.”    


“Out in the Maze? With the Grievers?” Audrey mumbled, having to slow down in order to process everything. “How would we even stand a chance?”    


“The Grievers are taking one a night. So one of us sacrifice ourselves for everyone else.” Thomas shrugged. Two seconds later, his arm was throbbing in pain from where Audrey had punched him.    


“You slinthead. No, absolutely not.” 

“That’s pretty much what Newt said.” Thomas laughed, rubbing his arm. “C’mon, I’m suppose to go wait by the Box for them to finish up in there.” The three walked over, Casey and Thomas remaining silent as they did so. Audrey was relieved when she saw Newt coming their way.  _ It’s like they were having a secret conversation without me..  _ She shook her head and quickly got up to give Newt a hug, figuring he’d need one after the Gathering. He accepted it happily, glaring over her shoulder at Thomas.    


“This is bloody nuts, you know that, right?”    


“So they agreed?”    


“All of ‘em. Wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be. Those shanks’ve seen what happens at night without those bloody Doors closing.”    


“The Keepers might have agreed, but what about the Gladers? Not everyone is going to want to go.” Audrey pointed out, as Minho and Thao joined the group. 

“I’m gonna walk around and ask everyone if they’re coming or not.” Newt explained. “It’s their choice. It don’t matter to me if those shank want to stay here and get picked off one by one.” Newt shrugged, a little too grumpy. “You two shanks lay low.” He pointed to Casey and Thomas. They both nodded.

“Should we go get some supplies together?” Casey suggested, obviously not wanting to do  _ nothing _ . 

“Yes. Food, weapons, clothes, toothpaste, condoms, all that.” Newt told her, sending her off with a nod. The pair walked away, and Audrey glared at Newt.

“Who are they sacrificing?” She asked, still aghast with the plan.

“Thomas elected himself.” Newt explained with a grimace. “Doubt that’ll do any good. He is the one with the brilliant plan.” 

“That’s stupid, no one should have to die.” Audrey mumbled, looking at her feet.

“Someone’s gonna die either way, Auds. It might as well be for the greater good.” 

The next few hours were frantic. 

Most of the Gladers ended up agreeing to go--even more than Audrey ever expected. Even Alby decided to make the run. It felt weird preparing to go into the Maze, a place that up until earlier today she had never wanted to go. She would admit the idea of going out there terrified her and the fact that more than half the Gladers going were probably betting on the Grievers only taking one person from the group didn’t make her feel any better, but she was happy they were going to have a chance to get out.    


Backpacks were handed out and stuffed full of supplies. Frypan, who was one of the last to agree to go, was in charge of gathering food and figuring out a way to distribute it evenly among the packs. Audrey had insisted that everyone get their own syringe of Grief Serum and a few bandages, arguing that people were bound to get hurt on the way out. They had put Chuck in charge of giving everyone a water bottle, and Casey helped him.    


Minho and Thao had gone to the cliff to make a ivy rope and test it out again for the Griever Hole. And Thomas and Newt were handing out weapons, while Audrey made a list of everyone who had gotten one so far.  

Thao and Minho returned not too much later, making it just in time for Frypan’s hastily made final dinner. Minho’s hair was a little disheveled, and Audrey didn’t know if it was from running, making out, or just pure exhaustion. She looked at her plate, stomach churning. “I can’t eat.” She whispered to Newt, who shrugged and kissed her cheek. 

He then stood up and walked to Alby’s table. Alby got to his feet, and announced to everyone that it was time to go. Audrey thought she was going to be sick.

 


	25. Chapter 25

Minho stood by the doors, listening to something his friends were saying. Some instructions for when they got through. Newt had been talking with Alby, doing some official second-in-command business, but he was now limping over to them. 

“You ready shanks?” He asked, slinging an arm around Audrey and kissing her roughly. Minho could feel the adrenaline pulsating off the blonde boy, and it fuel him up.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Right, listen up ya shanks.” Newt called to the Gladers. “There’s forty-one of us. Ya all got your weapons. There ain’t anything else to say.”

“Shouldn’t someone give a pep talk?” Minho asked, the adrenaline pumping through his veins, excited to get back into the maze. 

“Go for it, princess.” 

“Be careful.” He began, looking around at the frightened Gladers. “Don’t die.” 

“Great. We’re all bloody inspired.” Newt answered, before pointing over his shoulder at the Maze. “You all know the plan. After two years of being treated like mice, tonight we’re making a stand. Tonight, we’re taking the fight back to the Creators, no matter what we have to go through to get there. Tonight, the Grievers should be scared.”    


Audrey and Thao cheered, and then everyone else did. Soon shouts and battle cries broke out, rising in volume, filling the air like thunder. Newt thrust his weapon into the air and yelled. “Hear that, Creators! We’re coming!”    


And with that, the group of forty-one broke out into a sprint, running past the Doors and into the Maze. Minho was up front with Thao, Newt and Audrey, leading the way through the complicated maze. Not that it was complicated to him, but he could tell that Audrey thought differently as he turned back to see her looking over each and every part of the Maze walls.  “Everybody keep up!” Newt yelled back at the group that was spread out across the corridor, running at a steady but quick pace. 

Minho slowed at the next turn, then stopped and held up his hand to tell everyone else to stop.  _ Somethings up. _ Then he turned, a look of horror on his face.  "Did you hear that?” He whispered. In response he got three head shakes, and quickly crept ahead and peeked around the sharp edge of stone, looking towards the Cliff.  “Oh, no.” He moaned, jerking back and turned to face the group. “Oh, no.”    


“What?”    


“There’s at least a dozen of them. Maybe fifteen.” He reached up and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “They’re just waiting for us.” 

Minor panic broke out in whispers, before Newt and Alby approached the front, silencing everyone. “Well, we knew we’d have to fight.” Newt said, but the tremor in his voice gave him away-- he was just trying to say the right thing. 

“Fifteen of them at once?” Chuck gulped, and Audrey quickly wrapped an arm around him.    


“Maybe they’ve already taken a kid back at the Glade. Maybe we can get past them--- Why else would they just be sitting---” Thomas started, before a loud noise from behind him cut him off. 

Minho turned around slowly, having a pretty good idea what he would find when he turned. More grievers were coming towards them, trapping them. In one hand he grabbed one of the knives in his belt, in the other, he grabbed Thao’s wrist, bringing her closer to his side. 

“Don’t do anything stupid.” He whispered to her, slowly backing the group up towards the intersection. The grievers stood around them, clicking and whirling, but they didn’t come any closer. 

“What are they waiting for?” Audrey squeaked from Minho’s right. He looked over to her and suddenly felt sick to his stomach. These kids shouldn’t be out in the maze, especially not with twenty grievers surrounding them. There was no way they could all make it out of this. 

He turned to look at the rest of the Gladers. Thomas and Newt were whispering between themselves, and Minho felt his stomach twist with guilt at the sight of Newt back in the maze. He turned to look at Alby, the knot in his stomach tightening. He was walking toward the Cliff. Newt yelled at him to get back, but that only caused Alby to break into a sprint. 

“Alby!” Newt and Minho screamed in unison, watching as the boy jumped onto a griever, and was immediately attacked by five or six of them. Newt tried to run forward, but Thomas and Minho grabbed his arms, pulling him back. 

They watched as the grievers tore away at the boy. He didn’t scream, which made the whole situation a lot more surreal. Newt collapsed into Minho’s arms, shaking furiously. 

“I can’t believe it,” Newt whispered, slowly steadying himself out again a few seconds later. “I can’t believe he just did that.”    


Minho squeezed Newt’s shoulder before quickly looking over everyone else. “We can’t waste what he did. We’ll fight ‘em if we have to, make a path for Thomas and Casey to get in the Hole and punch in the code.-- We'll keep the Griever’s off you two until you scream for us to follow.” He turned to Thomas toward the end of his speech, and the other boy nodded.    


“Hopefully they’ll go dormant for a while. We should only need a minute or so to punch in the code.”    


Minho nodded before turning back to Newt. “Alby didn’t want to go back to his old life. He freaking sacrificed himself for us--and they aren’t attacking, so maybe it worked. He died so that the rest of us could have a shot to live. We can’t waste it.”    


“Good that.” Newt sighed, closing his eyes for a second.    


“Listen up! We’re going to make our move right no---”    


The sound of the Grievers revving to life cut Minho off, much to everyone’s horror. The creatures on both sides of their group seemed to have noticed them again. Spikes were popping in and out of blubbery skin; their bodies shuddered and pulsed. Then, in unison the monsters moved forward, slowly, instrument-tipped appendages unfolding, pointing at the Gladers , ready to kill.  _ You’ve got to be shucking kidding. _ Tightening their trap formation like a noose, the Grievers steadily charged towards them.    


Alby’s sacrifice had failed miserably. Minho felt the adrenaline pumping again as the grievers began to approach. Thomas grabbed his arm. “I have to get through that!” He yelled over the sounds of the grievers, and the yells of the Gladers. Minho glanced at Newt. They held eye contact for a few seconds. He nodded.

“You lead.” Newt whispered, hands shaking on the small knife in his hand. Minho nodded, taking control of the situation. 

“Head for the cliff!” He yelled to the Gladers. “Go through the middle and push the shuckin’ things to the side.” His heart was pounding, but all the Gladers cheered a battle cry again, raising their weapons. “Ready,” He glanced at Thomas, who grabbed Casey’s hand, taking a deep breath. “Now!” He screamed, running forward. 

He slammed his knife against a Griever’s leg, seeing Newt do the same out of the corner of his eye. He heard screams from the Gladers, but couldn’t tell if they were pain, fury, or both. The griever swung it’s leg up, sending both Newt and him stumbling backwards. They managed to catch each other. 

Minho spared a glance around as he steadied himself. Thomas and Casey had Chuck with them. Audrey and Thao were each fighting off a griever of their own. The griever swung out at Thao, but she dodged it, sending her knife into the blubbery body of the beast. It writhed in pain. He smiled, and charged again, Newt by his side. 

“Now!” He heard Thomas shout from behind him, and the trio bust out in a spirit to get to the Cliff and into the Hole. 

The Gladers just had to keep fighting long enough of Thomas to punch in the code now, and the knowledge of that seemed to keep everyone fighting as hard as they could. Minho couldn’t tell who was winning the fight, the Galders or the Grievers. There were some pretty nasty cuts covering over half of the Gladers, and the Grievers were still all fighting, but with less intensity after multiple stabs from the Gladers weapons.    


The war seemed to last a lot longer then the minute Thomas had said it would, but eventually the Grievers just seemed to shut down, and everyone knew Thomas, Casey and Chuck had done it. 

Minho quickly scanned the corridor for his friends, reviled to see that Newt, Thao and Audrey were still standing. But over half of the group wasn’t, and much of the ones left standing weren’t in the world's best shape. Thao quickly made her way over to Minho and Newt, Audrey following behind with her hand covering her mouth.    


“They did it. We did it.” Thao quickly wrapped her arms around both boys and pulled them to her, tightening her grip.    


“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Audrey whispered from the left, before turning away from them to empty her stomach.    


“We’ve got to get to Tommy. The way out has gotta be with him.” Newt reminded everyone, pulling back from Thao’s hug to embrace Audrey, kissing her forehead.   


“I’ll go down first, you all follow behind me.” Minho said, grabbing everyone’s attention. There wasn’t nearly as many Gladers now, but half of them had made it. That’s more than Minho ever thought would ever make it out of this shuck place. 

They turned a corner and found Casey, Thomas and Chuck standing around a corner. “Minho!” Thomas called to him. He walked up to the boy and pulled him into a quick embrace. “Are you okay? What about the others?” He asked, stepping away. He looked around at the small group that had made it. 

“Dead. It’s all blood up there.” Minho shook his head, the thought of some of his friends lying up their, ripped apart, making his stomach churn. 

“How many do we have left?” Thomas asked, looking around at the Gladers.

“Twenty one.” Newt muttered, throwing his arm around Audrey. Minho shook his head again, leaning against a nearby wall to steady himself. “We need to get out of here, right now.” Newt told Thomas, looking around the small room. 

“I think I heard the door open down there.” Thomas pointed down a long tunnel. Minho nodded, and pushed himself off the wall, leading the way down the long tunnel. The tunnel was pitch black, and Minho almost screamed when a warm hand slid into his. 

“Hey.” Thao whispered. A set of lips was placed onto his cheek, and he almost felt like crying. 

“You did great up there.” He told her honestly, putting his free hand out in front of him to brace himself, in case there was a wall. 

“Me? You’re the one who led the bloody thing!” She argued, taking her hand from his and sliding it around his waist. It didn’t last too long though, because seconds later the ground made a sharp cutoff and made the two slide downwards, both of them shrieking in the process. 

He could hear the voices of the Gladers behind him start to fade, and if the dark tunnel was absorbing the noise around him as he continued to fall. He tried to reach back to grab Thao, and he could hear her right behind him but every time he reached, he hit the ground. Finally they reached the bottom and Minho was crushed under a pile of people, Thao being the first one to land on him, followed by Audrey, Newt and everyone else. They were all covered in this nasty oily goo that smelt like burnt plastic and overused machinery.  It took a few seconds for everyone to sort themselves out and get up, but finally everyone had gotten up and started to look around.    


They were in a huge underground chamber big enough to hold nine or ten Homesteads. From top to bottom, side to side, the place was covered in all kinds of machinery and wires and ducts and computers. _ Where the shuck are we now?  _ One one side of the room to Minho’s right, there where a row of forty or so large white pods that looked like enormous coffins. Across from thaton the other side stood a large glass door, although the lighting made it impossible to see what was on the other side. Minho instantly reached for Thao’s hand again, pulling her against his side.    


“Look!” Minho shuddered at the sight, never having felt so uncomfortable in his life. Behind a row of windows sat about twenty or so people; adults. They weren’t doing anything, just staring at them, observing them. Minho felt like an animal in the zoo. 

“The Creators.” Thao whispered. Minho gave her a harsh tug so that she was partially hidden behind him. The Creators barely moved. Only to write a few things down, or adjust their glasses. 

“What do we do?” Audrey asked, somewhere to Minho’s right. 

“They’re probably getting the grievers to come attack us again.” Newt spat, staring at the creators in anger. Minho looked around, and his eyes fell on Chuck. The young boy was shaking, tears welling in his eyes as he tried to act brave. Something inside Minho broke.

“I’m gonna break your faces!” He yelled, surging forward. Thao pulled him back, burying her face between his shoulder blades. 

“Don’t” She whispered against his back. He was fuming. He spat at the ground and flipped the Creators off. Just then, one of the doors that lined the wall was swinging open. Two people entered.

One was a women. An actual grown-up. She seemed very ordinary, wearing black pants and a button down white shirt that had WICKED written across her breasts in blue capital letters. Her hair was cut shoulder length and it was brown.  _ Not as brown as Thao’s, her hair is much prettier. _ Minho thought,  _ man, that was shucking girly of me. _ As she walked towards the group, she neither smiled nor frowned, it was almost as if she didn’t notice or care they were standing there.    


She stopped several feet away from the Gladers and slowly looked to left to right, taking them all in. The other person was a boy wearing a overly large sweatshirt, his face covered by the hood that was pulled up.    


“Welcome back.” The woman finally started. “Over two years, and so few dead. Amazing” This made Minho’s blood boil. Who did this shank think she was? 

“Excuse me?” Newt asked, sounding as furious as Minho felt.    


Her eyes scanned the crowd again before falling back on Newt. “Everything has gone according to plan, Mr. Newton. Although we expected a few more of you to give up along the way.” Minho watched as Newt tried to take a step forward, only to have Audrey tug him back to her side with a terrified expression.    


The woman had turned her attention to her companion, reaching out and pulling off his hood. He looked up, his eyes wet with tears. Every Glader in the room sucked in a breath of surprise.    


It was Gally.    


“What’s he doing here?” Minho shouted, checking if Thao was still right beside him. She wasn’t. She’d run to Gally, one hand on his shoulder, and one hand on his tear soaked face. 

“Are you okay? I thought you were dead.” She gasped, just loud enough for Minho to hear. “That was real shuckin’ dumb you slinthead.” She punched him in the arm, and Minho smirked a little bit.     


“You’re safe now.” The woman responded as if she hadn’t witnessed the scene before her. “Please, be at ease.” She slowly turned and pushed Thao away from Gally, back into the group of Gladers where Minho caught her.    


“At ease?” He barked, wrapping his arms around Thao to keep her beside him. “Who are you, telling us to be at ease? We want to talk to someone of authority, the police, the mayor---Somebody!”    


She narrowed her eyes as she looked at Minho. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, boy.”  _ Whose fault is that, bitch  _ “I’d expect more maturity from someone who’s passed the Maze Trails.” Her condescending tone only continuing to piss Minho off. 

He was about to say something else, when Newt beat him too it.    


“Gally, What’s going on?” Gally glared at Newt, his eyes flaring with- something. Minho could tell something was off with the boy. 

“You’ll thank us eventually Mr. Newton. These are dark times.” She smiled slightly. “Of course, there is one more variable.” 

At her words, Gally started to tremble, crying harder, face pale. He looked like he was trying to say something, but his mouth wouldn’t work. 

“Gally?” Thao whispered, trying to get him to speak. Minho pulled her closer, preventing her from going towards him.

“They can control me!” He burst, and Minho felt his heart sink to his stomach. The boy struggled for a few more seconds, before relaxing, a smile spreading across his face. He reached into his belt and pulled out a long, silvery knife. He threw it at Thomas, with unexpected speed.

Minho froze as the blade flew through the air towards Thomas. He wanted to run forward, push the kid out of the way, but he physically couldn’t move his body. The other Gladers seemed to be in the same position, frozen with fear, shock, and maybe a little bit of mind control. Almost all the Gladers, that was. 

Then, inexplicably, Chuck was there, diving in front of Thomas and with a sickening, wet thunk, the dagger slammed into the boy’s chest, burying itself to the hilt. Chuck screamed and fell to the floor, his body already convulsing. Blood poured from the wound, dark crimson. His legs slapped against the floor, feet kicking aimlessly with onrushing death. Red spit oozed from between his lips.    
Minho heard Audrey try to break out of Newt’s hold to get the the boy, but soon it didn’t matter. Thomas had fallen to the ground and pulled Chuck’s shaking body into his arms. 

“Chuck!” He screamed, over and over before they all watched as Chuck’s eyes rolled up in their sockets, dull white orbs. Blood was trickling out of his nose and mouth, and Thomas’s hands were already covered. “Chuck…” He whispered this time.    


“Thom...mas” The boy stopped convulsing, his eyes slid back into the normal position and focused in on Thomas. The scene was heartbreaking, but no one moved.    


“Hang on, Chuck. Don’t die--fight it. Someone get help!” Thomas screamed, but still no one moved. Even Audrey had stopped fighting Newt to reach them, because there was nothing to be done. 

“Thomas,” Chuck whispered, “Find… my mom..” A rackling couch burst from his lungs, throwing a spray of blood. “Tell her….” But the kid never got a chance to finish, his body going limp and his eyes closing. One last breath wheezed from his mouth.    


Thomas dropped the boy’s body, and lunged towards Gally. He grabbed Gally’s throat and the pair fell to the ground. He started punching him, yelling like some kind of shucked warrior. 

“No!” He flung his arm out just in time to catch Thao. She fought against him, but he just pushed her back towards the other Gladers. He ran to Thomas, Newt by his side, and together they pulled Thomas away. He struggled against them, and Minho moved to get a better grip. He fell to the floor and held Thomas to his chest. The boys squirmed and yelled, punching and kicking at the air. 

Newt let go to grab Thao, who was running towards Gally again. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back against a wall. Both were breathing hard. “He’s dead!” Minho shouted, to everyone, Thomas and Thao in particular. “Get your acts together and stop acting like children!” 

Thomas fell limp in his arms, and Minho thought he might have passed out from his efforts. Instead he started sobbing. He cried harder that he had in the Maze, and Casey was immediately at their side. 

He looked over to Thao and Newt, who were whispering in the corner. Newt looked how Minho felt, tired, scared, and enormously sad. Thao, glanced at Chuck, her eyes were filled with sadness.  _ How does someone so upset look so shuckin gorgeous? _

Thao shook her head at something Newt said, and pulled him into a hug. Minho loosened his grip on Thomas, who fell forward into Casey’s arms. He felt a shaky hand on his shoulder, and looked up to find Audrey, eyes red, tears streaming down her porcelain cheeks. 

He jumped to his feet and pulled her into his arms, his chin resting on her head. He could feel her shaking as he cried, and he looked to Thao. She still wasn’t crying. Minho both admired, and feared that. It was incredible that she could withstand so much pain without being tearful, but it made him wonder just how much pain it would take to break her. 

He felt the tears prickling at his eyes, and he quickly blinked them back. 

It was that exact moment that the woman from WICKED decided to talk.    


“All things happen for a purpose.” She said, any sign of malice now gone from her voice. “You must understand this.”  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chuck and Alby :( <3
> 
> Only two more chapters, guys!


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second last chapter guys! I'm so sad, it's almost over :(   
> Book two will be up next Tuesday!

No one said anything, they all just stared at the woman. Or at least that’s what Audrey thought they would all be doing. It’s what she would be doing if Minho wasn’t engulfing her in a tight hug that kept her face pressed against his shoulder. But she didn’t mind, and definitely didn’t want him to let go of her yet. If he let go she might just fall to the floor and crumble into a million peices.    


But then there was shouting and commotion from outside the entrance through which the woman had come. Minho loosened his grip enough that Audrey was able to turn back to face her, only to see the blood draining from her face as she turned towards the noise.  _ Now what? _

Several men and women dressed in grimy jeans and soaking-wet coats burst through the entrance with guns raised, yelling and screaming words over each other. 

Suddenly the WICKED woman was on the floor, gun aimed at her head. Flashes lit the air as several shots exploded from the gun, slamming into the woman’s body, leaving a bloody mess in her place.    


Minho had somehow moved them in the midst of it all, and suddenly Thao and Newt where right in front of them,  ducking down as the shots continued to fire off in every direction. Everything was happening so fast, and it was all so confusing.    


One of the men with the guns approached the Gladers, who were all huddled close to where Audrey and the others where. He had dark hair, his face young but full of wrinkles around the eyes, as if he’d spent each day of his life worrying about how to make it to the next.    


“We don’t have time to explain.” He said, his voice as strained as his face. “Just follow me and run like your life depends on it. Because it does.” 

Audrey felt herself being pulled towards the door where one of the gunmen was standing. She followed Minho, running with her head low, as gunfire and screams rang out. She didn’t know what she had been expecting when they left the maze, but it definitely wasn’t this. 

They reached the end of a long hallway and were faced with a tall staircase. Newt slowed at the bottom, beckoning a few people to go ahead. Audrey grabbed his hand and pulled him up the first flight of stairs. 

“I’m going to slow you down. Run!” He yelled, trying to free his hand. She knew his leg must be killing him. 

“You better shuckin’ run faster then.” She countered, pulling his arm. He took a deep breath and continued running. They ran down another hallway, and then up another flight of stairs. It dragged on and on. Another hall, another staircase. On and on until Audrey thought she might collapse. 

They reached the end of the hallway and burst through a door. They were immediately met with a downpour of rain. Newt stumbled slightly, and Minho caught him. Audrey hadn’t realised Minho had fallen back with them, but she figured he was just as concerned about Newt as she was. Minho held Newt up as they ran.

In front of them sat on rusty old bus, that looked like it’d been in it’s share of accidents. Their leader ushered them onto the bus. One by one the Gladers crammed on. Newt was in so much pain by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, that Minho had to piggy back the boy onto the bus.

Audrey heard a yell of panic just as she started to make her way down the aisle. She turned around to see Casey being yanked onto the bus by Frypan, and Thomas on the ground outside, a crazy looking woman over top of him.

“Gonna save us all!” The woman yelled so loud that Audrey could hear her though the walls of the bus. “Gonna save us all from the Flare!” She laughed, although it sounded like more of a hacking cough. Suddenly the people who had saved them from the chamber in WICKED were pulling her off, dragging her away from sight. “Don’t believe a word they tell ya! Gonna save us from the Flare, ya are!”    


Once the men had dragged her far enough away, they pointed his gun at her. “He isn’t going to shoot her, right?” One of the Gladers asked as she finally made it to a seat beside Newt, behind Minho and Thao. Thomas was on the bus with the men seconds later, sitting with Casey.    


The bus started rolling forward, and Audrey finally started to let herself process what was going on. Not that it lasted long. 

The woman who had attacked Thomas was sprinting towards the bus, screaming and waving her arms wildly. Thomas shouted “Wait!” from up front, but no one listened, or seemed to care. Instead, the bus sped up and slammed into the woman’s body. The bus thumped around, causing a few people to fall out of their seats. Not one of their rescuers seemed phased by the fact they had just run someone over, and the driver sped up again, hauling the twenty some odd Gladers into the rain-swept night.    


After a few minutes of processing, Audrey shook her head and looked over to Newt only to see that he was clutching his leg. She wished there was something she could do or say to help, but she couldn’t think of anything so instead she just leaned her head against his shoulder and cuddled against him. “We’ve had quite the night..”    


“That’s a bit of an understatement.” Minho grumbled from in front of her, turning around in the seat to face them, Thao too.    


“But we made it out. We never have to see that stupid Maze again.” 

“I have a feeling Alby was right about this thing. We aren’t gonna like it.” Newt gasped, banging his head on the headrest of his seat. “Shuck. Min, I honestly need you to cut this thing off.”  His eyes were squeezed shut and he made a whimpering noise.

“How you gonna chase after the girls then, shank?” Minho joked, earning a small, half-hearted smile from Newt.

“Don’t need to chase after ‘em, they just come naturally.” He explained through gritted teeth. “It’s like an aching pain, not a sharp pain. It’s worse than a sharp pain, I don’t know how to explain it. You guys probably wouldn’t understand.”

Both girls laughed. “An aching pain that makes you want to die? Never felt that before.” Thao laughed.

“No me either.” Audrey added, putting her arm around Newt. “It’s okay babe, we’ll get you some chocolate ice cream and a heating pad.”

“What?” The girls laughed again. 

Thomas and Casey were in the seats across the aisle from them. Casey tried to join in with their conversation a few times, but Thomas’s silence kept pulling her out. The boy stared out the window, jaw set, body stiff. To be fair, he’d just lost his best friend. Audrey smiled sadly at the boy.

A woman sat behind Casey and Thomas. She was one of the people who had pulled them out of WICKED’s compound. Her greying hair was matted to her face, still dripping from the rain. 

“What’s going on?” Audrey asked, catching the attention of her friends. Thomas turned around and stared at the woman, his expression remaining the same.

“That’s a very long story.” The woman replied kindly, looking over at all of them.    


“Please tell us something.” Casey said, pushing for more answers when it seemed like no one else would.    


The woman looked between all six faces before letting out a sigh. “It’ll take a while to get your memories back, if ever-- we aren’t scientists, we have no idea what they did to you, or how they did it.”    


“Who are they?” Thomas asked quietly.    


“It started with the sun flares,” The woman begun, confusing everyone but no one interrupted.”The sun flares couldn't have been predicted. Sun flares are normal, but these were unprecedented, massive, spiking higher and higher-- and once they were noticed, it was only minutes before their heat slammed into Earth. First our satellites were burned out, and thousands died instantly, millions within days, countless miles became wastelands. Then came the sickness.” Audrey wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear this or not, and reached for Newt’s hand from comfort as the woman continued. 

“As the ecosystem fell apart, it became impossible to control the sickness--even to keep it in South America. The jungles were gone, but the insects weren’t. People call it the Flare now. It’s a horrible, horrible thing. Only the richest can be treated, no on can be cured. Unless the rumors from Andes are true.” Audrey regretted asking what was happening, the horrors coming out of the woman’s mouth were things that would give her nightmares, if nothing else that had happened yet would. 

“As for you, all of you--you’re just a few of millions orphaned. They tested thousands, chose you for the big one. The ultimate test. Everything you lived through was calculated and thought through. Catalysts to study your reactions, your brain waves, your thoughts. All in an attempt to find those capable of helping us find a way to be the Flare.”  _ Us? Aren’t these people and the people they murdered different? _ Audrey thought, but the woman kept going so she brushed the thought aside. 

“Most of the physical effects are caused by something else. First the delusions start, then animal instinct begins to overpower the human ones. Finally it consumes them, destroys their humanity. It’s all in the brain. The Flare lives in their brains. It is an awful thing. Better to die then catch it.” 

The woman broke her gaze into nothingness and focused on the group again, smiling at them sadly. “We won’t let them do this to children. We’ve sworn our lives to fighting WICKED. We can’t lose our humanity, no matter the end result.” 

The woman looked down at her hands. “You’ll learn more. We live far North. We’re separated from the Andes, by the Scorch. We’re trying to get past it and find the cure. But until then, we’ll just fight WICKED, and help kids like you out. We want you to join us.” 

They all returned to their previous conversation after a few moments of silence. Audrey glanced over at Thomas and Casey, who were probably having a mental conversation again. After a short while, the Gladers began to fall asleep. Casey was out first, her arms folded across her stomach. Newt was next. He figured out that If he put his leg on top of Thao’s chair, it hurt slightly less, so he was sleeping with his legs far above his head. Audrey sat with her knees pulled to her chest, gazing around at her friends, trying hard not to think about the events that had occurred that night.  

She glanced forward at Minho and Thao, who were in one of the most uncomfortable positions she could imagine. Thao’s legs were propped up on the window, so that she was laying on her back. Minho had managed to curl up on the seats, his toes poking into the aisle, and his head nuzzled against Thao’s hip. They were both snoring softly. Okay, maybe MInho’s weren’t that soft, but it was still beyond cute. She smiled to herself before leaning back and resting her head on Newt’s shoulder. 

Before she closed her eyes, she glanced to Thomas, who was still staring out the window, watching the darkness. She sighed and gave into sleep.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, guys! The last chapter :( Don't worry though, the first chapter of the next book, called Lost To The Scorch, will be up on Tuesday.  
> Hope you guys like it!  
> -Alex and Katie

Thao woke up as the bus slowed to a halt. Both her legs were asleep, and her head was pounding. She groaned, trying to wriggle her toes. Her legs were propped up against a glass window. She panicked for a moment before it all came rushing back. The grievers, the dead gladers, the escape. Chuck.

Something was pressing against her hip. She looked down to find Minho’s face at her side, his bruised hand on the top of her hip bone. She smiled. “Hey sleepy.” She ruffled his hair a bit, laughing when he groaned in protest. “Looks like we finally made it.” She told him, before looking outside.    


They had pulled into a muddy parking lot that surrounded a nondescript building with several rows of windows. The woman seated near them, and all the other rescuers started to get up, and wake up anyone still sleeping.  The woman stood in the aisle by Thao and Minho, gently shaking Audrey and Newt awake from behind them.    


Soon everyone was awake, and up, even if they didn’t want to be. They were all shuffled through the front door of the building and up a flight of stairs, then into a huge dormitory with a series of bunk beds lined up along one of the walls. On the opposite side were some dressers and tables. Curtain-covered windows checkered each wall of the room.   


And the colors, the colors were everywhere. Bright yellow paints, red blankets, green curtains. After being in the gray Glade for as long as she had, Thao had forgotten just how vibrant real colors could be. It almost felt too good to be true.    


“I’ve been shucked and gone to heaven.” Minho said as he took it all in from beside her, smiling over at her and stepping aside to let everyone else in. Their bus-driver left, and new faces appeared, nine or ten women and men dressed in pressed black pants and white shirts, their hair immaculate, their faces and hands clean. _Oh I want a shower so bad._   


The colors. The beds. The staff. Minho smiling, an actual genuine smile, the first she’d seen in a long time. This place felt safe, and Thao was happy she’d made it this far.    


Soon, new clothes were passed out and everyone was giving the opportunity to shower. A proper shower with high water pressure and actual hot water. Thao looked to her left, where she could just see Minho’s face over the wall that separated the showers. “Whatcha staring at, Shank?” Thao had almost formed a decent retort when the scent hit her nostrils.  _ Pizza _ .

“Ya smell that?” She asked him. A huge smile broke across his face and his quickly washed the shampoo out of his hair. She did the same, and the two dashed out of the showers, changing fast than they ever had. Then ran, following the smell all the way to a cafeteria. On the tables sat huge, greasy pizzas. Thao couldn’t remember a time she’d been so happy. 

Minho sat down on a bench, grabbing the biggest piece he could and stuffing half of it in his mouth. “Ohmygod.” He managed through the huge mouthful. Thao grabbed a peice herself, nearly  _ shuddering _ when the flavours hit her mouth. “This is the most beautiful thing i’ve ever laid eyes on.” 

“Hey-”

“Pizza!” They spun around to see Audrey running towards them, Newt hobbling behind. They were soon joined by Casey and Thomas, and the rest of the gladers. It was fairly quiet as they ate, but Thao decided it was because no one could control the amount of pizza they were inhaling. 

It took them only ten minutes to polish off four pizzas between the six of them. “I’m so fat.” Thao complained, holding her stomach and dramatically leaning against Thomas. They were soon ushered to bed, which made Thao even more excited. A real, proper bed. 

They arrived in the dorm first, Thomas picking a bottom bunk about halfway down the wall. Minho quickly hopped up on the top bunk, right above Thomas, sprawling face first onto the sheets. Thao hopped up on the top bunk of the next set, relaxing into the covers. She could fall asleep within seconds if she tried.  

“Do you think Casey will be okay?” Thomas asked once everyone had settled into a bed, Audrey and Newt deciding to share the bottom one under Thao.    


“Yeah, she’ll be fine. Only reason she’s not in here is because they’re patching up that cut on her side. From what I could tell it definitely needed stitches.” Audrey said, trying her best to comfort him.    


“What do you guys think happened to the Gladers who stayed behind?” Minho asked, his voice just above a whisper.    


“I don’t know.” Thomas answered.    


“Based on how many of us died getting here, I wouldn’t like to be them right now.” Thao added, on the verge of falling asleep.    


“Griever’s are probably swarming all over them. Poor bloody slitheads.” Newt sighed, pulling Audrey closer to him.    


“Do you think we’re safe with these people?”    


“Yeah, I think we’re safe.” Thomas answered, before either talking to Casey in his head or falling asleep.    


“For now, yeah. But with the kind of world that lady was talking about on the bus… I don’t know if anywhere is ever going to be a hundred percent safe.” Thao mumbled, thinking back to the stories of the Flare. “But if I was going to pick somewhere to feel almost nearly safe, I’d pick here.” 

She rolled onto her stomach, reaching her hand through the bars at the top of the bunk. In a matter of seconds, Minho’s hand found hers. He squeezed it tightly, but didn’t say a thing. Thao smiled. It had been a long shuckin’ day, but boy, was she ever glad to be here, in this dorm, with these shanks.

“I love you guys.” She whispered into the darkness, falling into a deep slumber, with dreams of their future forming in her mind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gahh, okay there ya go everybody, book one, done! What did you think? Favorite parts? Favorite characters? Favorite romances? Can't wait for you guys to read Lost to the Scorch!  
> -Alex and Katie


End file.
